[ppiindia] Jakartapress.com: Century Gate dan Respon SBY
Refleksi Laluta: Bola Api Murka! Bola api menggelinding murka, ke muara lautan samudra pertiwi Membakar memar dan menggeliat, di tangan-tangan penjilat Siapa yang berani cuci-tanganmu? Luka memar tanganmu, berbisa racun Dosa bersilat-lidahmu, dihujat pengadilan rakyatmu Demi tegaknya Keadilan dan Kebenaran Amsterdam, 26 Nopember 2009 La Luta Continua! *** Century Gate dan Respon SBY [sumber: Jakartapress.com] Rabu, 25/11/2009 | 16:48 WIB Century Gate dan Respon SBYCentury Gate atau skandal Bank Century sudah memasuki babak transparansi dengan pernyataan Presiden SBY di hadapan para tokoh pers atas soal itu. Sikap tegas presiden agar kasus kontroversial yang menyeret nama Boediono dan Sri Mulyani serta nama-nama lainnya itu dibuka, merupakan bukti kearifan dan kejujurannya sebagai pemimpin bangsa. Bagaimanapun, di mata publik dan pers, Century Gate tali-temali dengan kasus Bibit-Chandra. Dalam hal ini, Presiden secara arif, bijak dan jujur menyampaikan sikapnya kepada para tokoh pers terkait kasus Bibit-Chandra dan skandal Bank Century. Terkait hasil audit investigatif BPK mengenai kasus Bank Century yang Senin ( 23/11/09 ) dilaporkan kepada DPR, Presiden mengatakan, ”Kita akan lihat sama-sama seperti apa. Bagi saya, kalau itu ada yang mesti diklarifikasi, dijelaskan, dan dipertanggungjawabkan, yang bertanggung jawab harus mempertanggungjawabkan dan menjelaskan.” Presiden menyebutkan, dalam penanganan kasus Bank Century terdapat wilayah kewenangan Bank Indonesia , kewenangan pemerintah, khususnya Departemen Keuangan, dan kewenangan bank itu sendiri. Presiden berharap persoalan itu dibedah untuk memastikan apakah ada kejahatan di dalamnya. ”Saya juga ingin tahu aliran dana talangan itu ke mana saja. Buka semua, apa adanya. Sekali lagi untuk mengetahui proper atau tidak. Apa ada yang menyimpang atau semua sesuai dengan yang ditentukan. Karena saya mendengar jangan-jangan ini ada kaitan dengan dana pemilu SBY, baik pada pemilu legislatif maupun pemilihan presiden yang lain,” tuturnya. Presiden mengungkapkan, merupakan sesuatu yang tercela jika seorang presiden mendapatkan dana, apalagi meminta dana atau berharap ada dana dari sumber- sumber yang tidak semestinya. ”Dengan demikian, itu cacat bagi saya kalau itu sebagaimana yang beredar sekarang ini dikait-kaitkan. Saya ingin dibuka seluruhnya. Silakan PPATK (Pusat Pelaporan dan Analisis Transaksi Keuangan), silakan bank itu sendiri lihat bukunya, lihat rekeningnya, lihat semuanya,” katanya. Presiden Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) mengatakan, jika DPR bermaksud menggunakan hak angket, ia akan menunggu hasil audit investigatif BPK sebelum menentukan sikap. ”Kalau DPR ingin menggunakan hak angket, saya pun bisa memberikan dukungan penuh kalau itu adalah solusi terbaik untuk membikin terangnya sesuatu yang sekarang beredar di mana-mana. Ini bagian dari sejarah kita, pembelajaran yang penting,” kata SBY.Pada kesempatan silaturahim tersebut, wartawan senior Rosihan Anwar menyampaikan harapan agar kebenaran dan keadilan soial dikedepankan, serta agar kecenderungan bangsa ini untuk tersandera pada mentalitas legal formal dapat diakhiri. Sementara Pemimpin Redaksi Harian Kompas Rikard Bagun berpendapat, rasa keadilan masyarakat kerap tak terpenuhi ketika semua persoalan dibawa ke jalur hukum karena kepercayaan masyarakat terhadap penegakan hukum belum terbangun kuat. Rencananya, pimpinan BPK akan menyerahkan laporan hasil pemeriksaan investigasi atas kasus Bank Century kepada pimpinan DPR, Senin (23/1). Dalam kaitan ini, Faisal Basri, ekonom FEUI, seusai seminar PSIK Universitas Paramadina pertengahan Nopember 2009 menyatakan kepada penulis dalam perbincangan hangat, bahwa semestinya kasus Century dibuka semua dan siapapun yang menerima aliran dana itu harus diungkap agar rasa keadilan masyarakat bisa terpenuhi. Faisal melihat, jika benar ada aliran dana Century untuk parpol, pemilu atau pilpres, sebaiknya dibuka dan ditransparansikan agar tidak menjadi pertanyaan dan gugatan publik, agar kebenaran dan keadilan bisa ditegakkan. Ekonom Faisal Basri sebelumnya menilai Bank Indonesia (BI) maupun Lembaga Penjamin Simpanan (LPS) bersalah dalam kasus pencairan dana yang membengkak ke Bank Century. BI dianggap terlalu lemah mengawasi pemilik lama Bank Century, Robert Tantular. Faisal meyakini bank sentral telah mengetahui watak Robert. Ia juga menganjurkan pemerintah dan DPR bekerja sama mempercepat terbentuknya Otoritas Jasa Keuangan (OJK) agar tidak terjadi saling tuding secara simultan. Bank Century, kata Faisal, termasuk kategori bank yang nakal. Bank Century terbentuk sebagai hasil gabungan dari tiga bank yakni Bank Danpac, Bank Pikko dan Bank CIC pada Desember 2004.Dalam kaitan ini, Faisal mengakui, upaya pemerintah menyelamatkan Bank Century dari kehancuran akibat perampokan sistematis yang dilakukan pemiliknya, berkembang cepat dan langsung masuk ke pusat medan politik yang panas. Sejatinya, pengucuran dana yang menurut Menkeu Sri Mulyani sebatas
[ppiindia] perkenalan
Assalamualaikum. Wr Wb Salam kenal semuanya, saya dina. Semoga di milis ini, saya mendapat banyak wawasan dan harapan yang dapat dibagi ke teman-teman semuanya. Dan bagi yang beragama islam, selamat merayakan hari raya Idul Adha 1430 H -- http://www.mybassic.blogspot.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[ppiindia] AFORISME
AFORISME pohonnya bercabang beranting berdaun berbunga pernahkah kau bertanya dari mana asalnya? nyala api tekadnya orang seberang tak pernah padam ditimpa badai kehidupan bukan anak rantau tanpa semangat pergilah ke luar cari pengalaman! Heri Latief Amsterdam, 24/09/2009 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[ppiindia] Vietnam diaspora urged to return
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8373580.stm last updated at 17:26 GMT, Tuesday, 24 November 2009 Vietnam diaspora urged to return Hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese fled their country after the Communist victory over the US-backed forces of South Vietnam in 1975. Now, as the BBC's Nga Pham has been finding out, the Hanoi government is trying to lure some of the diaspora back to the country to help it modernise. With red flags and loud revolutionary music, the gathering inside the massive National Conference Hall in Hanoi's outskirts resembles a regular meeting of Vietnamese political cadres, only with better-cut suits and more fluent English. This is the first meeting of Vietnam's diaspora to be held inside the country, attracting nearly 1,000 Vietnamese living overseas for a three-day conference. It is being hailed by Vietnam's official media as a major step towards national unity for a nation that was ravaged and divided by decades of war. Vive la difference? Bui Kien Thanh, 77, a senior financial adviser, has spent half his life living in France and the United States. I first went overseas in 1949 to study, but then came back to work for [former South Vietnamese President] Ngo Dinh Diem, he says. I believe in democracy, in market economy and the state of law and that's how I want to help change this country Returned Vietnamese financial adviser Bui Kien Thanh After Mr Diem was toppled in a coup, and the war continued, I left Vietnam again in 1965. After working for American insurance giant AIG, Mr Thanh was invited back by the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry in 1991. Since then has acted as an economic and financial adviser to the government. Some people criticised me as naive and pro-communism when I returned to Vietnam, but I knew what I was doing, he says. I believe in democracy, in market economy and the state of law and that's how I want to help change this country. See how fast Vietnam has been changing. We can do something different for our nation, Mr Thanh adds. Time for change Another delegate, Nguyen Ngoc My, is equally excited about the changes in Vietnam. Mr My served in South Vietnam's navy during the war. After the North Vietnamese took over in 1975 he was put in a re-education camp for more than two years until he fled to Australia by boat in 1978. I used to take part in anti-Hanoi protests whenever Vietnamese government officials visited Australia, up until 1986-1987, when Vietnam began the reform process. In 1992, Mr My started making made regular visits back and since 2000 he has spent most of his time in Vietnam pursuing a number of investment projects. He eventually become chairman of the Overseas Vietnamese (or Viet kieu) Business Club in Ho Chi Minh City. But he admits that there are still parts of the Vietnamese diaspora who remain suspicious of the country's Communist rulers. Some of them would never come back to visit, let alone to invest or do business here. Is talk enough? The purpose of the Viet kieu meeting, according to chief organiser Nguyen Thanh Son, who is also vice minister of foreign affairs, is to provide them with a forum to discuss issues close to their hearts. A large number of the Viet kieu left Vietnam in despair and hatred when the war finished, he says. This is an opportunity for them to see and to understand what has been happening inside the country. It took the Hanoi government years and a budget of 8bn dong ($450,000; £270,000) to organise the conference. But there is criticism that the conference has missed the point, as all the delegates are seen as pro-regime and cannot represent the whole diaspora. Tran Nam Binh, an Australian Vietnamese who teaches at the New South Wales University, decided not to go to the conference and doubts that it can bring about any concrete results. I don't think this kind of meeting will make any tangible change, even in the government's policies towards the Viet kieu. So I don't regret not taking part. Money and brains There are nearly four million Vietnamese living overseas, mostly in the United States. Each year, they send relatives back home up to $10bn, a major source of hard currency in the communist country. But knowledge and expertise, not money, are what the government expects most from the Viet kieu. Vietnamese experts living overseas are being urged to come back to teach and contribute their skills to the country. In 2004, the Vietnamese government began a series of legal changes to give the Viet kieu rights to re-claim their Vietnamese citizenship and even to own property in Vietnam. But for some, economic incentives are not enough for them to consider coming back to Vietnam. Dr Hoang Kim Phuc, a scientist at the University of Oxford, England, sees a lack of respect from Vietnamese officials for the country's intelligentsia. He thinks that only when local experts are treated properly,
[ppiindia] From stability to chaos in Indonesia
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/KK26Ae02.html Nov 26, 2009 From stability to chaos in Indonesia By Patrick Guntensperger JAKARTA - Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono delivered earlier this week an eagerly awaited announcement on the scandal involving the Attorney General's Office (AGO) and National Police's alleged efforts to undermine the quasi-independent and widely respected Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), which in recent years has convicted top-level officials from both institutions. But Yudhoyono's vague pronouncement on November 23 failed to clear the air and left unanswered questions about his own possible involvement in the alleged plot. Re-elected in July with an overwhelming democratic mandate, Yudhoyono has more recently experienced a reversal of political fortunes as his corruption-busting credentials have come into doubt and protesters in cities across the country have taken to the streets calling for his resignation. The political stability Yudhoyono previously represented to both domestic and foreign investors has in recent weeks suddenly come undone, with the specter of possible impeachment proceedings against Yudhoyono and doubts about his freshly elected government's survival. How he handles the allegations and street protests will put his commitment to democratic processes and reform to a stiff test in the weeks and months ahead, political analysts say. The first hints of potential foul play among Yudhoyono's top ranks emerged with his previous administration's bailout of the mid-sized PT Bank Century. Allegations that part of the rescue funds were diverted to his re-election campaign coffers have been officially and consistently denied, but not yet disproved through a truly independent investigation. On Monday, the Supreme Audit Agency released a report indicating massive financial irregularities in the US$717 million bailout scheme. Street protesters have called for the KPK to investigate the bailout scandal and more immediately for Yudhoyono, Vice President Boediono and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati to resign over the allegations of wrongdoing. The KPK scandal appears to involve a wider conspiracy at the highest levels of the judicial and law-enforcement agencies, both of which answer ultimately to Yudhoyono. Whether it was targeted to suppress a possible KPK investigation into the circumstances surrounding the Bank Century bailout is still unclear. The case against the KPK spiraled from the arrest this May of Antasari Azhar, then the acting chair of the KPK, for his alleged involvement in contracting the murder of a businessman involved in a love triangle with a young female golf caddy. While in custody, Antasari made and later withdrew allegations of bribery, influence peddling, and extortion within the KPK, a quasi-independent institution that hitherto had a rare reputation in Indonesia's corrupt official context for integrity and independence. Charges were later filed against two KPK deputy chairmen, Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M Hamzah, for extorting money from Angodo, the brother of a suspect in a case they were considering. However, secret tapes of conversations between Angodo and senior police and AGO officials appeared to reveal a conspiracy to frame the two senior KPK officials. The tapes were leaked to the press and later played in nationally televised court proceedings. They included references to Yudhoyono, suggesting that he was aware of and even possibly supported the alleged frame-up. Street protests erupted over the tapes' revelations, leading to calls for Yudhoyono's resignation and Bibit's and Chandra's release from detention. In response, Yudhoyono formed an ad hoc fact-finding team, known as the Team of Eight, comprised of lawyers and high-profile anti-corruption advocates to look into the scandal and produce a report of their recommendations. The team found there was no legitimate case against Bibit or Chandra and recommended that the investigations and case building against them be immediately halted. It also recommended a thorough restructuring of the police and AGO. Yudhoyono made his announcement on the team's findings on Monday and disappointed those who hoped for clear and decisive executive action. While suggesting that the case against Bibit and Chandra should not be taken to court, he was unclear as to whether the case ought to be dropped and the investigations halted. His recommendation was based on what he referred to as growing public distrust of the police and AGO. Going beyond the Team of Eight's recommendations, he added, Immediate efforts to correct and improve the three institutions are necessary, suggesting that fault could yet be found with the KPK, which since its establishment has produced a 100% conviction rate and jailed a number of former top officials. He added he did not want disharmony between the KPK, the police
[ppiindia] Wealthy pilgrims offered VIP services
Refleksi : Kalau mau melalukan ibadah haji sebaiknya kantong penuh dengan uang banyak supaya bisa dapat tempat baik dengan sevice yang memuaskan. http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1section=0article=128848d=26m=11y=2009pix=kingdom.jpgcategory=Kingdom Thursday 26 November 2009 (09 Dhul Hijjah 1430) Wealthy pilgrims offered VIP services Anwar Al-Sayed | Arab News Some affluent pilgrims choose to perform the Haj in the comfort of luxurious tents offered to them in Mina and Arafat. (AN photo) MAKKAH: Pilgrims looking for distinguished service can find what they want in luxurious tents in Mina and Arafat. A number of local and foreign companies have introduced the VIP service to lure wealthy pilgrims. The VIP service is primarily based on ensuring the pilgrim the privacy he is looking for amid an atmosphere of calm and serenity that will enable him or her concentrate on worship, said Zaki Kamal Hussein, a mutawif (a Haj tour guide). He said the domestic and foreign Haj companies and tourist offices usually target this category of people because they represent a good source of income. Though they are few in number, yet we must give them much emphasis because they can add to our gains, Hussein said. He did not specify how much a VIP Haj would cost. Asked about the difference between the ordinary and the VIP service, the mutawif explained that the later is a professional service that is characterized by distinction and privacy. It means transporting them in luxurious buses, providing them with hotel services, giving them special meals that are suitable to their tastes and health condition and accommodating them in spacious tents with luxurious furniture, he said. Hussein said the VIP pilgrims would have clean toilets that are both cozy and hygienic in addition to medical doctors and nurses to look after their health. There are special playgrounds for children with amusement games and educational programs conducted by specialized female educationalists to keep them busy while their rich parents perform their duties, he added. Thamir Abdul Rahman Muallim, who is heading an office providing VIP services, said he and his team were keen to provide the atmosphere for the pilgrims to spend their time in spirituality and serenity away from the incessant occupations of daily life. We provide them with top hotel service and ensure their families with the privacy they are looking for, he said. Mustapha Rajab, an Egyptian investor living in Britain, said he chose the VIP pilgrimage to ensure himself with the comfort necessary for the performance of Haj and to have an atmosphere of privacy away from the noise and air pollution especially with the swine flu pandemic. He said his mutawif has provided him with a velvet bag containing cleaned and sterilized stones with which to pebble the pillars symbolizing Satan. The mutawif has spared me the trouble of collecting these stones from Muzdalifah, he added. Sheikh Muhammad Owais, an imam of a mosque in Kent and the chairman of a welfare organization in Britain, said he has chosen the VIP service because it allows him to concentrate on the performance of the Haj and keep him away from the crowds in addition to the hotel service in food, accommodation and transport. The VIP service enables me to feel more the sanctity of the place and protects me against anything that might violate my pilgrimage, he said. Some critics of luxury Haj services say renting special accommodations by wealthier pilgrims is antithetical to the spirit of the pilgrimage. One of the purposes of wearing the ihram, for example, is to eliminate distinctions among the pilgrims. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[ppiindia] Iran confiscates Nobel winner's medal from hardline critic Shirin Ebadi
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/iran-confiscates-nobel-winners-medal-from-hardline-critic-shirin-ebadi/story-e6frg6so-1225804474328 Iran confiscates Nobel winner's medal from hardline critic Shirin Ebadi Martin Fletcher From: Times Online November 27, 2009 9:50AM IRAN has confiscated the Nobel peace medal and diploma of Shirin Ebadi, the human rights lawyer who is one of the hardline regime's most outspoken critics. Her bank account has also been frozen on the pretext that she owes almost £250,000 in tax. The seizure of the award, unprecedented in its 108-year history, caused outrage in Olso, where the Nobel Peace Committee is based. The Norwegian Government summoned the Iranian envoy to protest, and the committee said that it would make a formal complaint. Such an act leaves us feeling shock and disbelief, said Jonas Gahr Store, the Norwegian Foreign Minister. Geir Lundestad, secretary of the committee, said that Iran's action was unacceptable. A laureate has never been treated like that. Even political dissidents such as [Andrei] Sakharov and [Lech] Walesa were better treated in their countries, he added, referring to the Russian dissident and the Polish trade union leader, both of whom won the prize while living in the Soviet bloc. In 2003 Dr Ebadi became the first Iranian and first Muslim woman to win the peace prize, which was awarded for her campaign for democracy and human rights. She was abroad during President Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election in June and has spent the past five months travelling the world to draw attention to the regime's alleged electoral fraud and suppression of the opposition. I am effectively in exile, she said recently. She revealed the loss of her Nobel medal in an interview on Radio Farda, a US-backed Persian language station. She said the regime had frozen her bank accounts and pension, as well as those of her husband, who is still in Tehran. She continued: Even my Nobel and Legion d'honneur medals, my Freedom of Speech ring and other prizes, which were in my husband's safe, have been confiscated. Norwegian officials said that the medal had been taken from a bank deposit box. Dr Ebadi, 62, told another interviewer: They say I owe them dollars 410,000 in back taxes because of the Nobel. It's a complete lie, given that the Iranian fiscal law says that prizes are excluded. The prize money was dollars 1.4 million. She said that she was trying to recover her property through legal means, but so far, no judge has dared to review our complaint. Dr Ebadi's lawyer in Tehran, Nasrin Sotoudeh, said that the medal was seized on the order of a judge at Tehran's Revolutionary Court. The confiscation of Dr Ebadi's prizes is only part of the regime's campaign to silence her. It has closed her Centre for the Defence of Human Rights in Tehran and locked up three of her colleagues. She has been denounced in the state-controlled media and charged in absentia with conspiring against the state. Her husband was badly beaten this autumn and her apartment is said to have been seized. In an interview with The Times in September Dr Ebadi said that the intelligence ministry had repeatedly interrogated her husband and brother, ordered them to shut her up and told them that it could track her down anywhere in the world. In effect they have threatened me with death, she said. She insisted that she would continue to denounce the regime's brutality - the shooting of innocent protesters, imprisonment, beating and torture of opponents - and the use of show trials and forced confessions. Naturally the Iranian Government doesn't want the world to know what's happening in Iran, so it's my duty to inform as many people as possible. Dr Ebadi has been lobbying world leaders, urging them not to ignore Iran's human rights abuses in their desire to engage the regime over its nuclear programme. When The Times asked where she was based, she replied: Airports around the world. She said that she planned to return to Iran soon despite the danger of being arrested at the airport. If not imprisoned, she would fight for justice for the families of those killed after the election. She said that those who had contacted her included the mother of Neda Soltan, the student who was shot during a demonstration and became a symbol of the opposition. In a statement yesterday the Norwegian Foreign Ministry said that it had protested not just about the confiscation of Dr Ebadi's Nobel medal, but also about the prolonged harassment of her and her husband. The persecution of Dr Ebadi and her family show that freedom of expression is under great pressure in Iran, Mr Store said. We made it clear that Norway will continue to engage in international efforts to protect human rights defenders and will follow the situation in Iran closely. The Times [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[ppiindia] CIA paid magician to teach spies new tricks
http://www.smh.com.au/world/cia-paid-magician-to-teach-spies-new-tricks-20091126-junt.html CIA paid magician to teach spies new tricks November 27, 2009 WASHINGTON: The CIA hired America's most famous magician to write a manual on the arts of trickery, concealment and secret communication during the Cold War. John Mulholland was paid the then princely sum of $US3000 for tips on slipping a pill into the drink of the unsuspecting, tying shoelaces to give signals and on the ''surreptitious removal of objects by women''. Though it was believed every copy of his report had been destroyed in 1973, one survived and has been turned into a book, The Official CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception, by Keith Melton, an espionage historian, and Bob Wallace, a former director of the CIA's office of technical services. Mulholland's guidance from the 1950s was part of a larger CIA effort, called MK-ULTRA, developed to counter Soviet mind-control and interrogation techniques. The scheme later involved dosing unsuspecting suspects with LSD, and wilder plots such as planting an explosive in Fidel Castro's cigar. Mulholland supplies instructions on making and concealing droppers for liquids, how to handle small items before pocketing the vital one, and how to pick up a document with a book by using wads of wax. John McLaughlin, a former CIA deputy director, writes in a foreword that the drink-spiking techniques ''were never actually used'', to the best of his knowledge. Telegraph, London [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[ppiindia] Myths about Urdu
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/editorial/myths-about-urdu-619 Myths about Urdu By Dr Tariq Rahman Thursday, 26 Nov, 2009 PICK up any Urdu textbook and the chances are that it will endorse the following myths: (a) the term 'Urdu' means military camp. Our language is called 'Urdu' because it was created in the army camps of the Mughals especially during the reign of Shah Jahan; (b) Urdu is a mixed language (khitchri zubaan); (c) Urdu is a Muslim language. Now let us deal with these myths one by one. All the histories in Persian about medieval India use the Turkish word 'Urdu' (which means 'camp' in original Turkish) for 'city'. The word is not used in the original Turkish meaning in Indian sources in Persian for the most part. Sometimes the terms 'Urdu-i-mualla'and 'Urdu-i-badshahi' are also used. During Shah Jahan's time, Urdu-i-mualla referred to the language spoken in the city of Shahjahanabad (Delhi). The language we now call Urdu has an ancestor referred to as Hindvi and Hindi in most medieval Persian sources. In Gujrat, however, the language is called Gujri and sometimes Gujrati. In the Deccan it is called Dakani and around the Delhi area it is also called Dehlavi. During the 18th century the word 'Rekhta' was also used for it. Meanwhile the British, and also some other outsiders, call it Indostan, Moors and then Hindustani. In fact, the name 'Hindustani' was used so much by the British that both Muslim and Hindu scholars often used it themselves for their common heritage during the 1930s and 1940s. Syed Sulaiman Nadwi and some other thinkers who wanted Hindu-Muslim unity in British India even suggested that the term 'Urdu' be abandoned in favour of 'Hindustani' because the former conjured up the image of a military conquest and war whereas the latter had no such symbolic baggage. The word 'Urdu' is a contraction of the phrase 'zubaan-i-Urdu-i-mualla' (i.e. the language of the exalted city) which came to be used during the late 18th century. It is, in fact, the most recent name for a language which certainly existed even in the 13th century. There are words and sentences which we can recognise even today in the malfuzat (sayings) and tazkiras (biographies) as well as other records of that period. They refer to the language used in the marketplace, songs, conversation and in homes. The military reference does not exist though the language must have been used among soldiers also. It was certainly used in religious circles because even in far-off Kaniguram in Waziristan, a religious reformer called Bayazid Ansari wrote a book called Khairul Bayan in 1560 which has over 16 lines in this language which the author calls Hindi. Now for the myth that Urdu is a mixture of other languages. If a language is really a mixture it is called pidgin which is nobody's mother tongue and a reduced language. It may become a creole when it is developed and becomes somebody's mother tongue. Urdu's ancestor - call it what you will - existed in India (probably in the vicinity of Delhi) as a full language. Words of Persian and Arabic origin crept into it. This was not because of military activities but ordinary everyday interaction. This is a natural process and modern English came about in exactly this manner. That is why about half the vocabulary of English is from Latin and Greek via Norman French. But English is not called a 'mixed language' so why should Urdu be stigmatised as such? If one starts calling languages mixed in the sense that there was no base for them and words from different languages combined then Urdu is not that kind of product. Urdu is mixed in the same way that English is: it has absorbed words from many languages.The third myth that Urdu is a Muslim language is more problematic. For about 500 years of its existence nobody called it Urdu. It was called Hindi and had many words of Sanskrit origin as do other texts - until the 18th century. Then a language reform movement initiated by Muslim poets (Hatim, Mirza Mazhar, Nasikh's students etc) threw out certain words from the corpus of the language. Among them were words like chinta (worry), prem (love), sundar (beautiful) etc. The movement was actually an attempt to create a linguistic marker for the cultural elite which was mostly Muslim. However, instead of being merely a class movement it became a religious one. Thus, Urdu was imbued with distinctive Perso-Arabic cultural content and served as an identity symbol for the Muslims of India. In the same way, after 1802, modern Hindi was created by weeding out Persian and Arabic words and using only the Devanagari script for writing. These new languages - Sanskritised Hindi and Persianised Urdu - drifted apart from each other and still serve as identity markers for Hindu and Muslim nationalism in South Asia. During the Pakistan Movement, Urdu became a symbol of the identity
[ppiindia] Bias against women
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/columnists/bias-against-women Bias against women By I.A. Rehman Thursday, 26 Nov, 2009 Women shout slogans against violence during a demonstration to condemn flogging of women, in Lahore on Friday, April. 3, 2009. Authorities ordered an investigation into a video showing a man flogging a screaming woman in the country's northwest where the government recently agreed to introduce Islamic law. - Photo by AP. The central government's preoccupation with the threats to its survival has perceptibly affected its legislative programme and the worst sufferers include women. Among other things the biases against them have proved to be as strong as ever. The National Assembly recently won plaudits for passing a bill to amend the Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure to strengthen the law against sexual harassment. A few months earlier it had been hailed for adopting the Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Bill. However, the process and the delay in taking the next steps have again shown that pro-women measures cannot have a smooth sailing. The new provision in the Penal Code against sexual harassment is unexceptionable. Its justification has been summed up in the statement of objects in these words: 'Harassment is one of the most common issues faced by the women of Pakistan. They face intimidation in the marketplace, in buses, at bus stops and at the workplace. This issue alone inhibits most of the women to move out of their houses for education, for availing medical facilities and for earning a livelihood. Parents are hesitant to send their daughters out of the homes alone because the social environment is not safe.' The bill seeks to substitute Sec 509 of the PPC, which is vague and inadequate, with a text that widens the scope of the law by covering sexual harassment at the workplace and this for the first time. The amendment to the CrPC enhances the punishment for 'insulting modesty or causing sexual harassment' to imprisonment for up to three years or fine up to Rs500,000 or both. One hopes the measure will soon be adopted by the Senate and become law as early as possible. This bill was, however, a part of the two-bill package drafted after trend-setting cooperation between the government and civil society, especially women activists. The inability of the government to pilot the companion bill, which provides for the protection of women from harassment at the workplace, is causing dismay not only to women's organisations but also to all sections of society that stand for recognition of women's basic rights. The bill that has been withheld so far aims at checking sexual harassment in the formal sector - federal/provincial/district government offices, corporations, educational and medical institutions, registered civil society organisations and privately managed industrial and commercial establishments - by obliging the employers to abide by a code of conduct and providing for a mechanism for punishing wilful violators. Each establishment is required to set up a three-member committee (two members from within the organisation and one from outside) to inquire into and adjudicate upon complaints of sexual harassment against anyone within the office/establishment and award both minor and major penalties. This bill also has provision for offering victims counselling and medical treatment, something prosecution under law lacks. Appeals lie to specially appointed ombudsmen at the federal and provincial levels. The proposed arrangement not only supplements the revised section in the Penal Code but also constitutes a welcome step towards mobilising social support for women's protection against sexual abuse. Nobody can repudiate the argument that while laws are necessary to protect women from harassment they are not enough to eradicate social practices and attitudes that go against women's dignity. Harassment of women at the workplace is a social phenomenon and it can be overcome only through social engineering. The bill under reference aims at just that. It seeks to involve government authorities, private employers, trade unions and collective bargaining agents in a cooperative arrangement to ensure a harassment-free environment. The enforcement of the code of conduct and the creation of in-house redress mechanisms should guarantee working women's security and dignity without recourse to time-consuming litigation. This is something that should win the confidence of employers and employees both. Thus, one cannot see any valid reason for delaying the adoption of the bill. It is said the bill has been held back for the sake of developing a wider consensus. That the government should seek the support of different parties, including the religious factions, for its legislative proposals is understandable. What is difficult to accept is the policy of
[ppiindia] Men's intervention needed
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/12-mens+intervention+needed--bi-03 Men's intervention needed Thursday, 26 Nov, 2009 Men who are averse to gender violence should act to expose and prevent atrocities against women.-Photo by APP The International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women observed on Wednesday came as a timely reminder of the futility of efforts ostensibly being made to end this scourge. Women continue to be unfortunate victims of male violence worldwide. The data collected on the number of women who are murdered, abducted, raped or burnt does not give the full story, though it is bad enough. There are many more children now who are emotionally and mentally scarred for life after sharing as onlookers the violence experienced by their mothers and siblings. Many boys from abusive households grow up to be violent men. That is why this curse has been escalating. In Karachi alone, Madadgar reported 1,065 cases of violence against women in the first 10 months of 2009. The UN secretary general has come up with an innovative idea to combat violence against women. He has launched a Network of Men Leaders that brings together politicians, activists and religious figures who influence public opinion to champion the cause of women's rights. This is an idea Pakistan could do well to emulate. The network should include many of the sitting male parliamentarians. It is time the men who stand for women's rights should be asked to speak up against those who have proved to be the worst enemies of women behind a progressive garb that fools no one. How women's issues have been treated in the National Assembly shows that it is not easy sailing for women in Pakistan in spite of all the activism they have shown. It is also important that men who are averse to gender violence - mercifully there are quite a number of them around now - should act to expose and prevent such atrocities. It is well known that violence often ends when others intervene. Tags: Violence against Women,violence,gender violence [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[ppiindia] Dubai's debt default shakes world
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Gulf-of-debt-Dubai-default-shakes-financial-world/H1-Article1-480595.aspx Dubai's debt default shakes world HTC and Agencies Email Author New Delhi/Dubai, November 27, 2009 First Published: 00:17 IST(27/11/2009) Last Updated: 01:09 IST(27/11/2009) Global stock markets fell the day after one of Dubai's state-owned holding firms shocked the financial world with a debt default request. Dubai World, saddled with a $59 billion (Rs 2,74,350 crore) debt, on Wednesday asked creditors to defer payments for six months. Its subsidiaries include Nakheel, the construction firm famous for making country-shaped islands, and DP World, owners of five port terminals in India. The Financial Times called it a bombshell. London and Frankfurt stocks fell 1.86 and 1.80 per cent, in the Asian markets' footsteps. European banks hold $40 billion (Rs 1,86,000 crore) worth of Dubai World debt. Credit rating agency Standard Poor's said Dubai World's announced plans to restructure its debt may be considered a default. The default and tighter Chinese lending contributed to the fall. But Dubai is bigger, said David Morrison of financial risk firm GFT. Dubai World's woes raised concerns about the economic state of Dubai, the Persian Gulf's financial and trading centre. Dubai would take a decade to recover from the loss of investor confidence, said analysts. Dubai World lost heavily when real estate prices crashed last year, Indian officials based in the Gulf told HT. They also said the default spells trouble for wealthy Indians who have invested in Dubai real estate. The rot in Dubai's finances poses long-term problems for India's economic recovery. Dubai has one of the largest Indian expatriate worker populations (1 million) in the Gulf. The UAE became India's number one export destination in 2008-9, buying $24 billion worth of 'made in India' products. It sends home $ 2 billion (Rs 9,300 crore) in annual remittances [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[ppiindia] S. Korea Admits Civilian Killings During War
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/27/world/asia/27korea.html?ref=asia S. Korea Admits Civilian Killings During War By CHOE SANG-HUN Published: November 26, 2009 SEOUL, South Korea - The South Korean military and police executed at least 4,900 civilians in the opening months of the Korean War for fear that they were Communist sympathizers, the country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission announced Thursday. The commission, set up in 2005 with a parliamentary mandate, has investigated and confirmed similar civilian massacres by the wartime South Korean authorities, who summarily executed thousands of leftist prison inmates or machine-gunned villagers during their mountain operations to exterminate Communist guerrillas, dumping their bodies in the sea or mass graves. But the panel's announcement Thursday marked the first time a state investigative agency had confirmed the nature and scale of what is known as the National Guidance League Incident - one of the most horrific and controversial episodes of the 1950-3 war. In the months before the war, the anti-Communist and authoritarian regime of President Syngman Rhee forced an estimated 300,000 South Koreans to join the league, supposedly set up to re-educate people who had disavowed Communism. When the war broke out in June 1950 with the invasion from the North, Mr. Rhee's military and the police hurriedly detained league members in pre-emptive roundups to stop them from reinforcing the invaders. Many of them vanished, but discussion of their fate was taboo during the postwar decades of military rule. The issue became a priority when the truth commission began work under the liberal government of former President Roh Moo-hyun. But with their investigations winding down under President Lee Myung-bak, Mr. Roh's conservative successor, commission members said they expected the true scale of the killings to remain hidden. Given the number of victims and unlawfulness, this is the worst tragedy of 20th-century South Korea, Kim Dong-choon, a commissioner, said at a news conference. Mr. Kim said he believed at least tens of thousands of league members were killed without trial in the desperate first weeks of the war, when South Korean and United States forces were retreating. In two towns, hundreds of league members were locked in warehouses and sprayed with bullets by soldiers in a hurry to retreat, the commission said. But it said it could identify only 4,934 victims and could not confirm who had ordered the systematic, nationwide killings, though Mr. Kim suggested that it came from the top of the government. During decades of military rule in postwar South Korea, many victims' families remained silent, branded as untrustworthy members of society. Even as the panel began its work, many were afraid to come forward. Many former police and military officers refused to cooperate with the commission, which had no power to compel testimony or indict. But others did. Ten prisoners were carried to a trench at a time and were made to kneel at the edge. Police officers stepped up behind them, pointed their rifles at the back of their heads and fired, said Lee Joon-young, 85, a former prison guard who witnessed assembly-line-like executions near Daejon, south of Seoul, in July 1950. They did not deserve execution, said Choi Woo-young, 82, a former police officer who supervised 59 league members in the southern town of Hapcheon. They were not a threat to the government. On July 31, 1950, Mr. Choi said, his police contingent was ordered to kill all league members before retreating. He saved them, he said, when he secretly alerted them not to heed a police siren that was supposedly signaling them to gather for another session of re-education. A commission report said that in many cases, real Communists were hiding in the hills, and the authorities filled the ranks of the league with the Communists' relatives, as well as peasants lured with promises of bigger rice rations. Kim Ki-ban, 87, a villager at Cheongwon, 60 miles south of Seoul, said an allied aerial bombing allowed him to escape a warehouse where 65 league members were being held for executions in July 1950. The next day, all the others were gunned down, their hands trussed together with military communications wire, he said at the news conference Thursday. The authorities pressed us to join the league, he said. We just followed each other to sign up for the league, and we had no idea that we were joining a death row. On Thursday, the commission unveiled old government documents that contained partial lists of league members who had been killed. Documents showed that the police kept surveillance on their relatives as late as the 1980s to ensure that their children did not get government jobs, the panel said. A national association of victims' families lamented that the commission had revealed only the tip of an iceberg. It
[ppiindia] Banjir di Jeddah ragut 77 nyawa
http://www.utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp?y=2009dt=1127pub=Utusan_Malaysiasec=Muka_Hadapanpg=mh_01.htm Banjir di Jeddah ragut 77 nyawa SEBAHAGIAN jemaah haji yang berpakaian ihram berdoa di Padang Arafah ketika menunaikan fardu haji. - AP -- JEDDAH 26 Nov. - Hujan lebat dan banjir menyebabkan sekurang- kurangnya 77 orang maut dan beribu-ribu jemaah haji terkandas di bandar pelabuhan Jeddah pada permulaan ibadah haji semalam. Sesetengah mangsa mati lemas atau terbunuh dalam insiden jambatan runtuh dan nahas jalan raya, manakala pasukan penyelamat melaporkan, mereka menyelamatkan 900 orang yang terperangkap dalam banjir. Perjalanan sebilangan jemaah haji ke Mekah turut tergendala apabila sebatang lebuh raya menuju ke kota suci itu ditutup kerana ditenggelami air. Hujan lebat luar biasa semalam, menyebabkan jalan-jalan dan bangunan dinaiki air di Jeddah, pintu masuk utama bagi jemaah haji. Kira-kira tiga juta jemaah dari luar negara sudah tiba di Arab Saudi untuk menunaikan haji tetapi tiada seorang pun daripada mereka dilaporkan menjadi korban banjir. Seorang saksi melaporkan dia melihat beberapa mayat bersebelahan sebuah bas yang terbalik dalam hujan lebat. Kesesakan teruk masih berlaku di jalan-jalan utama malam tadi selepas hujan berhenti dan air banjir surut. Pegawai kerajaan, Jassem al-Yaquout berkata, dua jambatan di lebuh raya ke Mekah runtuh manakala agensi berita rasmi SPA melaporkan, beberapa kawasan di Mekah terputus bekalan elektrik. Di Mekah, jemaah melakukan tawaf dengan membawa payung yang biasanya digunakan untuk berlindung daripada panas matahari. Sesetengahnya bimbang mereka tidak dapat bermalam di kawasan perkhemahan di Mina, dalam perjalanan yang pernah dilalui oleh Nabi Muhammad SAW lebih 14 abad lalu. Kami menginap di dalam khemah buat masa sekarang. Hujan lebat menyebabkan koridor yang dibentang permaidani merah bertukar menjadi laluan air yang menghanyutkan tin-tin minuman ringan yang kosong, kata jemaah dari Maghribi, Zohra Nasef yang mengerjakan haji buat kali kedua. Jurucakap Kementerian Dalam Negeri, Mansour Turki berkata, sebilangan jemaah tidak mendapat tempat di dalam khemah dan pihaknya terpaksa mendirikan khemah tambahan bagi memenuhi keperluan mereka. - Reuters [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[ppiindia] Dari Xian, China ke Tanah Suci Mekah
http://www.utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp?y=2009dt=1127pub=Utusan_Malaysiasec=Luar_Negarapg=lu_02.htm Dari Xian, China ke Tanah Suci Mekah XIAN 26 Nov. - Bandar purba Xian merupakan tempat terletaknya patung tentera Terracotta dan ia pernah menjadi bandar tumpuan peradaban China semasa dinasti Tang daripada tahun 618 hingga 907 masihi. Xian turut menjadi tempat tinggal kepada kira-kira 60,000 golongan Islam China dan memiliki kemegahan sejarah Islam selama 1,300 tahun. Bangga dengan warisan Islam dan tradisi negara, masyarakat Islam Xian menggabungkan budaya silam China dengan Islam dan tetap teguh berpegang kepada iman dalam mengamalkan rukun utama agama mereka. Seorang daripadanya, Ma Yi Ping, 46, merupakan antara individu terkenal dalam komuniti Islam Xian. Sebagai seorang daripada 10 imam di Masjid Besar Xian, beliau turut memiliki sebuah kedai kecil yang menjual hasil kaligrafi Islam di bandar itu dan berkhidmat sebagai guru agama bagi sesiapa yang mahu menunaikan rukun haji. Saya dilahirkan dalam keluarga Islam yang taat dan saya adalah anak tunggal. Saya mula mempelajari al-Quran sejak kecil. Saya diberitahu bahawa saya perlu mengabdikan diri kepada Islam, kepada umat Islam dan menyumbang kepada keamanan masyarakat serta negara. Semasa saya kecil, ayah menghantar saya belajar al-Quran di rumah seorang imam. Ketika itu, kanak-kanak dilarang belajar di masjid disebabkan tekanan politik yang dianjur oleh 'Kumpulan Empat'. Semua agama terjejas teruk,'' katanya kepada Al-Jazeera, semalam. Parti Komunis China menutup semua masjid pada tahun 1959 dan semasa Revolusi Budaya 1966, lebih 29,000 masjid dimusnahkan. Yi Ping berusia 16 tahun ketika masjid dibuka semula dan beliau dilantik menjadi imam. Yi Ping kali pertama menunaikan haji pada 1994 dan sejak itu beliau telah menyempurnakan rukun kelima Islam itu beberapa kali. Tidak seperti di Singapura dan Malaysia, golongan Islam China tidak membuat banyak sokongan untuk menunaikan haji. Beliau membantu memberi panduan dan mengajar masyarakat Islam China beberapa doa tertentu untuk diamalkan sepanjang mengerjakan haji di Mekah. Saya mahu membantu komuniti Islam China kerana mereka sangat warak. Satu-satunya masalah yang mereka hadapi ialah mereka tidak biasa dengan rukun-rukun haji kerana ibadah itu tidak dilaksanakan di sini,'' katanya. Jia Wang Yi dan isterinya yang berumur 60-an, merupakan antara bakal jemaah haji yang dibantu Yi Ping dan mereka menyifatkan haji sebagai satu fardu yang penting bagi mereka. - Agensi [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[ppiindia] Korupsi Ancam Persatuan Indonesia
http://www.suarapembaruan.com/index.php?detail=Newsid=12087 2009-11-26 Korupsi Ancam Persatuan Indonesia Dalam dialog sekitar reaksi beberapa pakar terhadap pidato SBY tentang Rekomendasi TPF (Tim 8), Metro TV, 24 November 2009, ada pakar yang menyebutkan, jika pemerintah, dalam hal ini presiden, tidak tegas pendiriannya terhadap pemberantasan korupsi, maka akibatnya rakyat akan jemu, jengkel, dan marah. Masalahnya, rakyat jelata yang menderita akibat korupsi oleh segelintir manusia, yaitu pejabat eksekutif, legislatif dan judikatif. Betapa tidak, sumber dana yang seharusnya diperuntukkan bagi kesejahteraan rakyat diambil secara melawan hukum oleh pejabat negara berkerja sama dengan konglomerat. Luka lama berupa kebencian kepada konglomerat, sejenis Anggodo, akan terkuak lagi. Tidak mustahil perumahan mewah, dengan kanal-kanal seperti di negeri Belanda, dalam sekejap mata akan luluh lantak disapu bersih oleh badai kemarahan rakyat. Apalagi ketika kemarahan itu diorganisasi secara baik oleh para penganjur (people's power). Jadi apa yang harus dibuat? Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat mumpung masih belum tercemar oleh nafsu menjadi kaya, segera mengundangkan undang-undang tentang pembuktian terbalik. Jika undang-undang ini sudah ada, KPK dalam koordinasi dengan kepolisian dan Kejaksaan Agung, setelah direformasi, segera meminta para pejabat, incumbent dan mantan, yang hidup di atas garis kesejahteraan, untuk melaporkan kekayaan mereka dan diminta untuk membuktikan dari mana kekayaan itu diperoleh. Kalau ada yang tidak dapat membuktikan perolehannya secara legal, kekayaan itu segera disita untuk negara. Di samping itu, perbuatan mereka yang melawan hukum harus diadili dan diberi hukuman se- timpal. Sementara itu, reformasi dan penertiban aparatur negara, terutama penegak hukum, dilakukan secara cepat dan tepat yang dinakhodai oleh orang-orang profesional dan bermoral. Mudah-mudahan dengan demikian kesejahteraan umum, sesuai amanat UUD 1945, segera terwujud dan selamatlah NKRI dari disintegrasi sosial dan disintegrasi politik. Agar semua ini dapat terlaksana Indonesia membutuhkan seorang chief executive yang negarawan, yang menempatkan kepentingan rakyat di atas segala-galanya. Cornelis A Boeky - Rancho Indah Jakarta Selatan [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[ppiindia] Ninety Fatah terrorists 'pardoned'
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1259243016034pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull Ninety Fatah terrorists 'pardoned' Nov. 27, 2009 YAAKOV KATZ and Jerusalem Post staff , THE JERUSALEM POST In an effort to bolster Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in the face of a potential mass prisoner swap with Hamas, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) pardoned over 90 wanted Fatah militiamen on Thursday on condition they refrain from engaging in terrorist activity. Under the deal, the 92 fugitives - all members of Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades, Fatah's military wing - will be allowed to move freely throughout Palestinian cities within Area A of the West Bank. One of the fugitives included in the deal is Ala Sankara, who was the Al-Aksa commander in the Balata refugee camp near Nablus. In 2007, the Shin Bet signed an amnesty deal with over 150 wanted Palestinian terror suspects, offering them a chance to avoid arrest by handing in their weapons and refraining from terrorist activity. The Shin Bet has continued to offer the deal to dozens of other Palestinian terror suspects - all affiliated with Fatah - and eventually will consider allowing them to join the official Palestinian security forces. Defense officials said that the amnesty deal was part of Israeli efforts to bolster Abbas ahead of a potential swap with Hamas in which over 1,000 prisoners would be released in exchange for Gilad Schalit. Israel is concerned that a massive prisoner deal with Hamas would undermine Abbas and boost Hamas's popularity on the Palestinian street ahead of general elections. Israel is planning several wide-ranging gestures to Abbas. On Wednesday, the IDF announced that it was removing 50 dirt roadblocks in the West Bank, including one on the Jenin-Tulkarm road, one of the main arteries for Palestinians. Meanwhile, Channel 2 reported Thursday night that there had been a number of adjustments to the pending Schalit deal. According to accounts of Israel's offer as detailed Hamas officials, Israel wants to switch some of the prisoners Hamas has demanded be released for other prisoners. Israel would also release prisoners serving multiple life sentences only 3-10 years after the main exchange takes place, and deport them out of the area altogether. Other terrorists who had lived in the West Bank would be deported to the Gaza Strip, Channel 2 reported. Hamas has reportedly responded to the offer by demanding that prisoners only be deported in extraordinary cases and with their consent. Hamas has also reiterated its demand to include in the releases former Fatah Tanzim leader Marwan Barghouti and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) secretary-general Ahmed Sa'adat, as well as several prisoners of Jordanian and Syrian descent. It has not responded to Israel's condition that the release of some prisoners be delayed. Earlier Thursday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Schalit should be freed in a feasible and appropriate way, but not at any price. Hamas is discussing the proposal and we're holding talks, he told Israel Radio. We hope a deal will ensue, but I can't say whether it will really happen or not, and if so, when. The defense minister explained how he might back a deal in which Schalit would be exchanged for hundreds of Hamas terrorists, while at the same time objecting to negotiating with kidnappers. Regulated principles for conduct in such instances have only recently begun to be consolidated, he said, based on recommendations by an expert committee. Israel is on a slippery slope. This descent must be stopped, but not at the expense of a person who is already in Hamas captivity, he told the radio station. A year ago I appointed a commission. to recommend principles and processes regarding captives and prisoners of war. Incidentally, they are not the same, he said of the two categories. With prisoners of war, the rule is: all of our prisoners in return for all of the enemy's, even if we have 3,000 and they have three. With captives, since kidnapping is quite easy, it can turn into a method to extort the State of Israel, and we are being led down this slippery slope. Other [Western] countries don't negotiate with abductors, and the number of kidnappings is dropping, Barak pointed out. But as for Schalit, my position is that you don't change a 20-year process while you have a soldier in captivity. This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1259243016034pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[ppiindia] I just uploaded a photo that I want you to see!
Hello! I just uploaded a photo on shohibul's DailyFlog page that I want you to see. Please come and see: http://www.mydailyflog.com/go/invite_register/shohibul/49792884stc=18 Thanks! Shohibul Siregar Got a digital camera? MyDailyFlog is a personal photo-blogging space where you can easily post your latest and greatest photos, and share them with your friends and family. Create your own DailyFlog at www.MyDailyFlog.com ... Unsubscribe: to opt out of further invitations from your friends to see their DailyFlogs, please click below: http://www.mydailyflog.com/go/system/euns=ppiin...@yahoogroups.commd5=92c2b59713e84650dac0c7c37486aec5bl=18 Please do not reply directly to this email. Questions? Contact us - http://www.mydailyflog.com/go/contact_us MyDailyFlog, Refriendz Ltd. PO BOX 1184, Luton, Bedfordshire, LU1 9AT.
