Headlines:
- UK Government’s Deradicalisation Plan will Brand Muslims with Beards as Terrorists, say Academics
- Bosnia: Europe’s Worst Conflict since WWII
- Afghan President Thanks Pakistan for Hosting Taliban Talks
UK Government’s Deradicalisation Plan will Brand Muslims with Beards as Terrorists, say Academics
The Government’s flagship counter-radicalisation strategy leads Muslims who grow beards to be labelled as terrorists and could be used to clamp down on anti-austerity and environmental campaigners, hundreds of academics have claimed in an open letter to The Independent. Wide-ranging powers brought in this month under the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act force teachers, social workers, prison officers and NHS managers to report signs of radicalisation. Those suspected of extremism will be sent on deradicalisation programmes, while the whole system is to be policed by Government inspectors. In an unprecedented intervention, 280 academics, lawyers and public figures claim the controversial law will make Britain less safe as it will force radical political discussion underground. Among the leading academics who want the Government to rethink the strategy are Karen Armstrong, one of the country’s most prominent writers on religion, and Baroness Ruth Lister, emeritus professor of social policy at Loughborough University. The new regime, part of the Government’s counter-terrorism policy, Prevent, places public-sector workers under a statutory duty to confront radicalisation. Prevent was introduced by Labour in the wake of 9/11 and remains the frontline policy for combating radicalisation. But the letter claims that “growing a beard, wearing a hijab or mixing with those who believe Islam has a comprehensive political philosophy are key markers used to identify ‘potential’ terrorism”. It adds: “This serves to reinforce a prejudicial world view which perceives Islam to be a retrograde and oppressive religion that threatens the West. Prevent reinforces an ‘us’ and ‘them’ view of the world, divides communities, and sows mistrust of Muslims.” Last month David Cameron said the Government would provide “a full spectrum” response to counter-terrorism, to include the vetting of external speakers at universities and banning those with extremist views. There are also plans to vet broadcast programmes for extremist content. But the academics’ letter states: “Prevent will have a chilling effect on open debate, free speech and political dissent. It will create an environment in which political change can no longer be discussed openly, and will withdraw to unsupervised spaces. Therefore, Prevent will make us less safe.” [Source: The Independent]
What can you expect from a country that is steeped in a bloody history of fighting Islam? From the crusader wars to the physical occupation of Muslim lands in the 20th century, Britain has always been at the forefront of fighting Islam.
Bosnia: Europe’s Worst Conflict since WWII
The three-and-a-half year conflict in Bosnia marked a watershed in European history as the continent’s greatest loss of life since the Second World War. Atrocities were committed on all sides but it was the Muslim Bosniak population that arguably suffered the worse and it is the massacres committed against the Bosniak community – notably in Sarajevo and Srebrenica – that have become synonymous with the conflict. Between April 1992 and December 1995, an estimated 100,000 people were killed and 2.2 million displaced in a war that introduced the phrase “ethnic cleansing”. Up to 50,000 women, mostly Bosniak, were raped. The war was sparked by the break-up of Yugoslavia that lead Bosnia to declare independence in February 1992. Bosnian capital Sarajevo came under siege from Bosnian Serb militias backed by the Yugoslav People’s Army in what became the longest siege in modern history. During the blockade, around 10,000 civilians lost their lives and more than 50,000 others were injured. More than 300 shells fell on the city daily, damaging thousands of buildings. The war also saw the return of concentration camps to Europe. According to an association of camp victims, there were 657 Serb-run camps in which around 30,000 inmates died and thousands others were tortured and starved. Most of those killed were buried in mass graves around the country. But perhaps the war crime most closely associated with the war was that committed at Srebrenica in July 1995 when, under the noses of Dutch UN peacekeepers, Serb paramilitaries rounded up and murdered more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Europe’s worst massacre since the days of the Nazis. [Source: World Bulletin]
The most despicable act of this war was the ease at which Europe ignored the plight of Bosnian Muslims and encouraged the Serbs to commit war crimes. Both Europe and Serbs feared Bosnian Muslims wanted an Islamic state, and this only strengthened their resolve to commit atrocities under the auspices of the UN. As for US intervention, it was aimed at clipping the foreign policy of Russia’s influence in the Balkans and not to help Muslims as some like to advocate.
Afghan President Thanks Pakistan for Hosting Taliban Talks
The Afghan president has thanked Pakistan’s prime minister for hosting the first official face-to-face talks between the Kabul government and the Taliban. According to a statement Friday from Ashraf Ghani’s office, the Afghan president met with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines of a summit in Russia. Ghani praised Pakistan’s efforts and reiterated his own priorities to have a “permanent peace in Afghanistan.” The statement says Ghani also told Sharif their two countries are at an important moment in their relations. Ghani has in the past sought Pakistan’s help in bringing the Taliban to the negotiations, since Islamabad is believed to wield influence over the group. Sharif earlier described the Kabul-Taliban talks, which were held Tuesday evening at a Pakistani government rest house outside Islamabad, as “a major breakthrough.” [Source: ABC News]
The talks sponsored by China and America, are an attempt to stabilize Afghanistan by co-opting elements of the Taliban to join the Afghan government. However, the talks face considerable opposition from some Taliban factions that are bitterly oppose to any reconciliation with Kabul, and see the whole dialogue as a means of continuing the occupation of Afghanistan by foreign powers.