Education: creativity is missing

SHWETA SINGH

The film Three Idiots by Rajkumar Hirani is an entertaining reminder of the apathetic condition of our education system which is based on conventional prescription, transfer of information and competition for marks rather than on critical thinking, creativity and participation of the learner. It has also witnessed systematic intrusions of communal prejudices and gender biases and, in a way, become a medium to further the process of alienation, dehumanisa tion and ‘othering’.

The Imperial College of Engineering and the classes in this institution bring to the common man’s table the point how our teaching-learning process is built around the expertise of the teacher, who deposits information in his/her students, and who, in turn, come close to the idea of containers of information than knowledge. In this context, perceptions, experiences, the cultural and ideological underpinnings of the process, etc., are rarely made explicit. Learning and mastering the curriculum is the key goal of the event.
‘Sense of hollowness’

Given the Darwinian principle of survival of the fittest in this competitive world of marks and examination, social status and financial stability, the process of meaning making, action and reflection, the development of critical consciousness, or the right to choose a vocation rather than a profession gets totally lost. Thus as Krishna Kumar, Director NCERT, says: “There is a ‘sense of hollowness’, which a lot of young people today find in our institutional life. They find that nobody cares for them, the learning game is essentially a marks-examination game and the success game is essentially a game which is being played to eliminate a lot of people from the race. Thus, students do not associate purposiveness and integrity to education.” There is need for a paradigmatic shift from the ‘banking or depository’ form of education where students are ‘passive containers or recipients’ to more participatory or dialogical ways.

It is important that we recognise the learner as a ‘resource’ and not just a ‘recipient’ of information so that we do not annul the process of creativity and critical consciousness that play an important role in giving meaning to human relationships and, consequently, to education itself. It is time we recognised that India faces critical questions on issues of secularism, minority rights, gender discrimination, etc., along with a process of dehumanisation and ‘othering’ on the basis of caste/religion/ethnicity/gender.

There has been the inculcation of perceptions of ‘difference’ across communities, and even distortion of facts, especially in history and social science texts. The content of education, along with the way it is transacted, shapes the thinking and behaviour of young people, influencing both social attitudes and perceptions of what constitutes knowledge.

Efforts to address these issues by MHRD, UGC, NCERT and others are piecemeal and much is still desired. The focus should be on the content and pedagogy of education.

Source:http://www.hindu.com/op/2010/01/17/stories/2010011750021400.htm

Money is important, but how much do you need?

N. GANESHAN

How much money it costs is not the issue, but how much the money costs us is crucial

Once you get basic human needs met, a lot more money doesn’t make a lot more happiness

Money is not everything, but money is something very important. Beyond the basic needs, money helps us achieve our life’s goals and supports — the things we care about most deeply – family, education, health care, charity, adventure and fun. It helps us get some of life’s intangibles – freedom or independence, the opportunity to make the most of our skills and talents, the ability to choose our own course in life, financial security. With mone y, much good can be done and much unnecessary suffering avoided or eliminated.

But, money has its own limitations too. It can give us the time to appreciate the simple things in life more fully, but not the spirit of innocence and wonder necessary to do so. Money can give us the time to develop our gifts and talents, but not the courage and discipline to do so.

Money can give us the power to make a difference in the lives of others, but not the desire to do so. It can give us the time to develop and nurture our relationships, but not the love and caring necessary to do so. It can just as easily make us jaded, escapist, selfish, and lonely. How much do you need? What is it going to cost you to get it? It is keeping these two questions in mind that gives us a true sense of money’s relationship to happiness. If we have less than what we need, or if what we have is costing us too much, we can never be happy. We need money to eat, sleep, dress, work, play, relate, heal, move about, and enjoy comforts. We should remember in choosing our style that it comes with a price tag.

Evidence of the psychological and spiritual poverty of the rich and famous fills our newspapers, magazines, tabloids, and television programmes and hardly needs repeating here. “We always think if we just had a little bit more money, we’d be happier,” says Catherine Sanderson, a psychology professor at Amherst College, “but when we get there, we’re not.” “Once you get basic human needs met, a lot more money doesn’t make a lot more happiness,” notes Dan Gilbert, a psychology professor at Harvard University and the author of the new book Stumbling on Happiness.

Yes, we get a thrill at first from expensive things. But we soon get used to them, a state of running in place that economists call the ‘hedonic treadmill’. The problem is not money, it’s us. For deep-seated psychological reasons, when it comes to spending money, we tend to value goods over experiences.

Money can help us find more happiness, so long as we know just what we can and cannot expect from it. Many researches suggest that seeking the good life at a store is an expensive exercise in futility. Money can buy us some happiness, but only if we spend our money properly. We should buy memories.

How much money it costs is not the issue, but how much the money costs us is important. Money should not cost us our soul, relationships, dignity, health, intelligence and joy in simple things of life. People who figure out what they truly value and then align their money with those values have the strongest sense of financial and personal well-being.

Source:http://www.hindu.com/op/2010/01/17/stories/2010011750031400.htm

Internet Precautions and Guidelines

Source: Al-Jamiat

Internet technology has brought about dramatic advances in communication and information accessibility. The blessings and favours of Allah Ta'ala upon His servants are indeed innumerable. Expressing shukr (gratitude) for these favours by word and deed is incumbent. Internet usage is fast becoming a norm in many a Muslim home. Adults, youth and even children are becoming savvy to the exciting ease of information access. However we need to be extremely cautious that this newly found "connection" should not disconnect us from Allah Ta'ala. Rather it should drive us to strengthen our relationship with our Creator. Hence it is important to formulate certain guidelines and parameters when using the internet. Hereunder are a few points we should keep in mind:

Distraction from salaah
Under no circumstances should our engagement with the internet distract us from observing our salaah. Nothing surpasses the firm establishment of salaah in the life of a Muslim. Allah Ta'ala has not commanded us to merely perform salaah; rather the command of the Qur'an is to firmly establish salaah in our lives.

Confine to Shariah
With the presence of 4.2 million pornographic websites serving 372 million pornographic webpages, the internet is very much a double-edged sword with a razor sharp evil edge. Internet usage should be strictly confined to the Shariah. A suggested method of surfing websites where there is a increased possibility of obscene advertisements or graphics being displayed, is to turn off the 'showing images' setting which is a common feature with internet browsers. Using the internet for illicit and haraam purposes is abuse of a ni'mat (blessing) of Allah Ta'ala. There are severe consequences to this. If one is unable to contain himself and his desires he should permanently disconnect from the internet service by unsubscribing. There is great safety in this.

Valuable asset
Time is a most valuable asset. To carelessly waste this valuable asset in trivial activities is contrary to Shariah. The internet should be used as a platform for education and information. Surfing the net aimlessly should be avoided. Time should be utilised constructively. Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) has said, "Two blessings are such; which many people are in deception with regards to; good health and free time." (Mishkat)

Family duty
Special care should be taken that one does not become so absorbed on the internet that family duties are neglected. Of high importance is the time due to the wife. To spend quality time with the wife, speaking with her light heartedly and keeping her heart happy is imperative. This duty should not be disturbed by excessive internet engagement.


Monitor the children
Parents who allow their children to use the internet for educational purposes should keep a close eye on them. Children seem to be outdoing their seniors in computer literacy. As such there are able to access and explore almost anything from the PC without the parent even knowing. This makes it essential for parents equip themselves with the necessary knowledge of utilising the internet as well as how to monitor what is being accessed on the internet. Another ideal solution would be to situate the computer in such a place which is an "open" area in the house, where a person cannot be in seclusion. This will be a preventative measure for anyone wanting to abuse the facility. It is also incumbent on parents to employ any other monitoring device or strategy to ensure that children are kept on guard with the internet.


Be careful
Visit only authentic sites. It is very easy to be misled by attractive sites conniving to mislead. These sites pose a major threat to one's Imaan. Be careful. Do not visit a site for the sake of curiosity. The more hits a site receives the better its chances of survival. If you visit an undesirable or deviated site don't make it an issue. The more people visit the site the more exposure it gains. Without visitors the site will die a natural death. May Allah Ta'ala grant us the ability to utilise the internet beneficially

The Imam and the Bus Driver

Several years ago an Imam moved to London, United Kingdom. He often took the bus from his home to the downtown area. Some weeks after he arrived, he had occasion to ride the same bus. When he sat down, he discovered that the driver had accidentally given him a twenty pence ('tuppence') too much change.

As he considered what to do, he thought to himself, you better give the twenty pence back. It would be wrong to keep it. Then he thought, "Oh,forget it, it's only a tuppence. Who would worry about this little amount?Anyway the bus company already gets too much fare; they will never miss it. Accept it as a gift from Almighty Allah (swt) and keep quiet." When his stop came, the Imam paused momentarily at the door, then he handed the twenty pence back to the driver and said, "Here, you gave me too much change". The driver with a smile, replied,"Aren't you the new Imam in this area? I have been thinking lately about going to worship at your Mosque. I just wanted to see what you would do, if I gave you too much change."

When the Imam stepped off the bus, his knees became weak and soft, he had to grab the nearest light pole and held on for support, and looked up to the heavens and cried: "Oh Allah, I almost sold Islam for twenty pence!"

Brothers and Sisters: We may never see the impact our actions have on people. Sometimes we are the only knowledge of Qu'ran someone will read, or the only Islam someone will see. We can't settle for our sins and think that since we have been defiled by our sins, we cannot be a model for Islamic life.Quite the contrary. We are all on the same level in one aspect, as human beings. We are ALL sinners and need forgiveness.

However, the big difference is that one is saved by belief, that belief of the UNSEEN; that belief that Almighty Allah is watching one. This code of conduct which teaches one morals, etiquettes and values so that we as Human Beings may respect and honour one another.

Be careful and be honest everyday, because you never know who is watching. But, Remember Allah Ta'ala is watching.

MAY ALLAH ALMIGHTY HELP US IN ALL WALKS OF LIFE, Ameen.

Source:http://www.theikhlaas.com/resources/articles/advice/the%20imam%20and%20the%20bus%20driver.html

Make the Right Effort

This is the story of the giant ship engine that failed. The ship’s owners tried one expert after another, but none of them could figure but how to fix the engine.

Then they brought in an old man who had been fixing ships since he was a youngster. He carried a large bag of tools with him, and when he arrived, he immediately went to work. He inspected the engine very carefully, from top to bottom.

Two of the ship’s owners were there, watching this man, hoping he would know what to do. After looking things over, the old man searched into his bag and pulled out a small hammer. He gently tapped something. & instantly, the engine lurched into life & got started.

He carefully put his hammer away. The engine was fixed! A week later, the owners received a bill from the old man for £10,000.

“What?!” the owners exclaimed. “He hardly did anything!”
So they wrote the old man a note saying “Please send us an itemised bill.”
The man sent a bill that read:

Tapping with a hammer …..£2.00
Knowing where to hammer..£9,998.00

Total £10,000

Moral of The Story:
Effort itself is important, but knowing where to make an effort in your life,
‘Makes all the difference’. So often we see people striving, working and making effort tirelessly, often for years only for them to later on realise that they were all misplaced and how they wish they had spent the time and effort on something more fruitful. This reminds me of a quote I once read a long time ago:

“My worry for you is not that you fail to succeed, but that you succeed in the wrong thing.”

Source:http://www.haqislam.org/make-the-right-effort/

Bagram, the other Guantanamo

Mukul Sharma

In the absence of judicial oversight, the detentions in Bagram have been marked by torture and other ill-treatment. Like Guantanamo, Bagram should be closed.

Images of caged and shackled detenus at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, of torture at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, and of the Gulfstream jets that were used to transfer detenus to secret prisons around the world, have been seared into the public consciousness and become indelibly linked to the U.S. response to the attacks of September 11, 2001. The news that the Guantanamo detention facility, a symbol of injustice and abuse, will no longer be operating after January 22, 2010 is to be welcomed. Guantanamo will be consigned to history, as will be, it is to be hoped, the “enhanced” interrogation techniques and secret Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) prisons. But these positive changes do not obscure the fact that hundreds of others languish in U.S. custody in Afghanistan with no means to challenge their detention, and that the U.S. continues to reserve the right to use rendition and allows the CIA to hold individuals on short-term and transitory basis without the legal framework governing such detentions being made clear.

Nor can the positive changes mask the reality that the U.S. administration continues to invoke the spectre of an ill-defined and perpetual “war”, where the battlefield could be anywhere from Peshawar to Peru, to claim the right to detain people until hostilities have ended, whenever that may be.

On January 22, 2009, President Barack Obama signed three executive orders on detentions and interrogations. One of them committed his administration to closing the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay within a year and directed officials to conduct an immediate review of all cases of detenus being held there to determine what should happen to them. However, the new administration continues with the detentions in Afghanistan; in particular, the long-term detention facility operated by the U.S. Department of Defence at the Bagram airbase where hundreds of detenus are being held. New detentions by the U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan have been occurring regularly .

Since 2002, an unknown number of people — believed to be more than 2,000 — have been held at the detention facility at the Bagram airbase, currently known as the Bagram Theatre Internment Facility (BTIF). Most of the Guantanamo detenus were held in Bagram and/or the Kandahar airbases before being transferred to the naval base in Cuba. Some were held in these U.S. facilities in Afghanistan for many months. Today, several hundred people — the majority of them Afghan nationals — are being detained there. They are being held without charge or trial, or access to courts or lawyers — some for several years. Some were taken into custody inside Afghanistan, some outside. Four habeas corpus petitions pending before U.S. courts involve nationals of Yemen, Tunisia, and Afghanistan reportedly taken into custody in Pakistan, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and Afghanistan. For some detenus, their transfer to and detention in Afghanistan marked the first time they had been in that country.

As at Guantanamo, in the absence of judicial oversight the detentions in Bagram have been marked by torture and other kinds of ill-treatment of detenus. Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) deployed in Afghanistan between late-2001 and the end of 2004 reported personally having observed military interrogators in Bagram and elsewhere employing stripping , sleep deprivation, threats of death or pain, threats against detenus’ family members, prolonged use of shackles, stress positions, hooding and blindfolding other than for transportation, use of loud music, use of strobe lights or darkness, extended isolation, forced cell extractions, use of and threats of use of dogs to induce fear, forcible shaving of hair for the purpose of humiliating detenus, holding detenus in an unregistered manner, sending them to other countries for “more aggressive” interrogation and threatening to take such action.

If anything, detenus at Bagram suffered more deprivation and had less legal protection than those at Guantanamo. As in the case of Guantanamo, accountability for such abuses has been minimal. As at Guantanamo, detenus at Bagram have included children, denied their rights under international law to special treatment considering their age. As at Guantanamo, detenus have been subjected to transfers to and from the base without judicial or other independent oversight or notification to family members. As at Guantanamo, the CIA is believed to have conducted secret detentions and interrogations at Bagram, and both facilities have served as hubs for unlawful “renditions”. At least two cases currently before U.S. courts concern individuals allegedly subjected to enforced disappearance at unknown locations by or on behalf of the CIA before being taken to Bagram.

The U.S. detention of Afghans and non-Afghans in Afghanistan without a proper legal framework or accountability has fostered significant popular resentment in Afghanistan. Afghan President Hamid Karzai, as well as the country’s Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), have repeatedly called for and failed to obtain access to, or at least monitor conditions at, U.S. detention facilities.

Under the Afghanistan Constitution, the AIHRC has the right to monitor the human rights situation in Afghanistan and investigate violations. Nevertheless, the AIHRC has not had access to the Bagram detenus because it rejected the conditions placed on it by the U.S. authorities — including that its officials be accompanied at all times by U.S. military officials. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is the only international organisation that has been granted access to detenus held at Bagram. Over the years, it has not had access to all detenus in U.S. custody there or elsewhere in Afghanistan. The organisation maintains a general policy of confidentiality, but has repeatedly revealed its concerns about the lack of resolution of the legal status of the Bagram detenus, and the distress that indefinite detention causes to detenus and their families. In 2008, after prolonged negotiation between the ICRC and the U.S. authorities, programmes of family visits and telephone contact were set up.

On April 2, 2009, a U.S. federal judge ruled that three detenus at the Bagram airbase, who were transferred there by U.S. forces after being seized in other countries, could challenge the lawfulness of their detention in U.S. courts, noting that “aside from where they are held, Bagram detainees are no different than Guantanamo detainees.”

The ruling is not wide enough and leaves numerous questions unanswered — not the least of which is: what will happen to the detenus who were initially detained in Afghanistan? Nonetheless, it was a positive step by a federal judge towards ensuring the rule of law at Bagram and against the position developed by the Bush administration and adopted by its successor.

However, the Obama administration decided to appeal against this ruling. Given that detenus at Bagram do not have access to a system of effective judicial review in Afghanistan, the administration’s appeal essentially means that, like its predecessor, it seeks to deny detenus held by the U.S. outside its territory or Guantanamo any effective means to challenge the lawfulness of their detention. This will amount to continuing the arbitrary nature of the detentions in violation of international human rights law.

Like the detention facility at Guantanamo, now the subject of a presidential deadline for closure, the history of detentions at the airbase in Bagram is one of denial of human rights and human dignity. It took more than six years for the detenus at Guantanamo to be recognised as having the right to habeas corpus. It is past the time for detenus in Bagram and other locations in Afghanistan to have the basic protection provided by independent judicial review. With the new U.S. administration committed to sending more troops to Afghanistan, it is likely that U.S. detentions there will continue and may even rise in terms of numbers.

Like Guantanamo, Bagram should be closed. The theory that the U.S. is entitled to detain any individual anywhere in the world at any time, and hold them indefinitely on the premise that it is involved in an all-pervasive global and perpetual armed conflict against non-state actors, should be expressly disavowed and rejected by Mr. Obama and his administration, Congress, and the courts.

Source:http://www.hindu.com/2010/01/06/stories/2010010655610900.htm

Telling The Truth

By Yvonne Ridley in Cairo

January 03, 2010 "Information Clearing House" -- Telling the truth can be a complicated business.

It was one of the first lessons I learned at a very tender age.

Still unable to grasp the importance of the school timetable in my first week, I rolled up for class 20 minutes late having been diverted by a rather splendid game of marbles. Four black jack chews and a sherbet dip were at stake.

By the time I walked in the teacher was so fraught that lying seemed to be the best option.

Five minutes later I was before the headmistress because my colourful story about helping a blind man find his way home after his old crippled guide dog had dropped dead outside the playground gates was not believed.
At the end of the day when my mother came to collect me she was hauled in to the head's office where I was forced to recount my rather elaborate story before being made to apologise to the grown ups and promise always to tell the truth. Just as we were about to leave she reminded my mother school finished at 3.30pm and noted she had arrived five minutes after the bell.

My mother was really annoyed - angry with me for telling lies and irritated by the head's observation on the importance of time keeping.

On seeing me the next day the headmistress asked me what my mother had to say about the events the day before. "Oh," I responded brimming with determination to only tell the truth "she thinks you are an interfering, old busybody."

That evening when the school bell sounded both my mum and I were back in the headmistresses' office. To my utter amazement my mother lied and when we got home that night I was punished for telling the truth!
I was four years old and I realised then and there that telling the truth cane sometimes be painful.

The reason for me recounting this story is that I am in Egypt now following the Free Gaza Movement of 1400 peace activists who gathered in Cairo from more than 40 different countries.

Their week-long efforts to get to Gaza to give humanitarian aid and messages of goodwill and solidarity to the Palestinians have been thwarted with the utmost vigour and enthusiasm by the Egyptian Government.

This prompted me to write a series of articles exposing the shameful behaviour of the Egyptian Government. I described the Cairo Government as America's rent boy in the Middle East clearly influenced by the two billion dollars of aid it receives from the USA.

And thanks to some heroic camerawork from British film-maker Warren Biggs and American journalist Jehan Hafiz I was able to back up my words about the violence of the Muharabat, or secret police, with shocking images.

Telling the truth in Cairo, as I later discovered, can be a rather precarious occupation and certainly does not endear you to people in places of power or authority. I have been told that I will never be allowed in Egypt again although, as usual, the implied threats are never put down officially.

I would be devastated if this ban is indeed official because despite the flotsam and jetsam in power, I have a deep respect for ordinary Egyptian people and their country.

Threats are something local journalists have experienced over the years and there and those who have indeed ended up in Cairo's darkest dungeons for telling the truth, but I salute my fellow scribes for their heroic determination to make sure the facts surface.

Sadly not all journalists subscribe to that ethos and they opt for something worse than telling the truth - silence.

I will not shame and name those journalists in this column ... they know who they are and they are working in positions of great influence where their words and pictures could easily tell the world about what is really happening on the ground in Cairo.

But what I would say to them is that if they are too afraid to tell the truth, or even cover the most basic stories in an open way then they are in the wrong profession and doing a great disservice to journalism.
Our profession is a noble one and hundreds of our colleagues have paid the ultimate price for trying to get the truth out in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan ... war and conflict zones right across the world as well as from within the most sinister of police states.

But those who chose to ignore the arrival of 1400 peace activists from around the world to Cairo, and the efforts they had made to get to Gaza can not call themselves journalists. They are or have become an extension of a government apparatus which uses fear and intimidation to stop the truth getting out.

At the end of the day the truth is there. The Cairo government might attack it, ignorant individuals may choose to ridicule it but it will not go away and the truth will out.

To all those Egyptian journalists who continue to defend the truth I salute you and to those miserable individuals who remained silent or twisted the facts there is a chance to redeem yourselves ... over the next 72 hours the Viva Palestina convoy will enter Egypt.

Please report exactly how they are treated and how the Egyptian Government receives them - telling the truth might be an act of courage but it is also a powerful entity which can open doors, shame governments and mobilise people to fighting for what is right and what is just.

Everyone is entitled to their opinions but there is only one truth.

British journalist Yvonne Ridley is one of the founders of Viva Palestina, as well as a member of the RESPECT Party, and presenter for Rattansi & Ridley and the Agenda shows on Press TV. She is making a documentary with Indy film-maker Warren Biggs about the Gaza Freedom March for First Witness Productions - www.1stwitness.com

Source: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24314.htm

Taleban deputy leader warns of more attacks in Afghanistan in 2010

Sunday, January 03, 2010
Taleban deputy leader warns of more attacks in Afghanistan in 2010

The USG Open Source Center translates an interview with the "Old Taliban's" number 2 man, Mullah "Baradar" Abdul Ghani, on Taliban tactics against the US.

Taleban deputy leader warns of more attacks in Afghanistan in 2010
Afghan Islamic Press
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Document Type: OSC Translated Text


Taleban deputy leader warns of more attacks in Afghanistan in 2010

The deputy leader of the Taleban, Mullah Berader, has said that if the foreign "aggressor forces" persist with their activities in Afghanistan, they should not expect the Taleban to "soften their posture" either and if they wanted peace they must withdraw their forces. He also said Taleban attacks had proved successful so far and more of the same could be expected, perhaps using new tactics. The following is the text of an "exclusive" interview given by Mullah Berader to the private Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press news agency, put out by the agency on 31 December; subheadings inserted editorially:

Kandahar, 30 December:

Deputy leader of Taleban Islamic Emirate: If the aggressor forces in Afghanistan dream about invasion of the country, they should not expect us to show softness either.

Deputy leader of the Islamic Emirate of the Taleban Mullah Abdol Ghani, also known as Mullah Beradar, told the Afghan Islamic Press in an exclusive interview that if the foreigners keep dreaming about invading Afghanistan, the Taleban will not show any softening in their posture either.

The deputy leader of the Taleban Islamic Emirate answered questions from the Afghan Islamic Press sent to him in an email in the last week of December. The Afghan Islamic Press now publishes the text of the questions and answers on the last day of the current Gregorian year:

Exclusive interview of the Afghan Islamic Press with esteemed deputy of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Mullah Beradar Akhond

Q: How do you evaluate your resistance during the current year which is almost ended?

In the name of God!
Fighting this year
A: The Americans, British and their other allies in the war in Afghanistan had expected to achieve decisive military results, suppress the Afghans' jihad resistance, recapture all the areas and parts controlled by the mojahedin and pave the way for administration and activities by the puppet Kabul government at the end of the current year by conducting various great military operations, adopting military strategies and using different kinds of weapons during the year, but with special blessings from Great God and the unsparing support and sacrifice of the mojahedin nation, the current year had many surprising and consecutive glad tidings of triumphs and victories for the mojahedin of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The mojahedin not only countered the great military operations by the aggressor forces by forcing them to withdraw and proudly defended the areas controlled by the mojahedin, they also freed and pushed the invaders out of vast areas. The casualties and financial and losses they inflicted on the invaders could be found in reports, speeches and announcements of the Pentagon and other Western sources, who said the casualties of the past seven years has been equal to the losses and casualties of the current year. That means the current year has been the bloodiest year full of calamities and fears for them in the past eight years which is a great achievement of the mojahedin.

Cont'd (click below or on "comments")



Taleban's tactics for 2010

Q: What will be your military and political strategies in the coming year (2010)?

Part 1: Will the number of suicide attacks increase?
Part 2: Will you step up the planting of mines and mine attacks?
Part 3: Will you organize frontier wars? Will you increase explosions and sudden attacks on important targets?

A: Thank God the jihad direction and strategy during the current year was more successful and full of victories than we expected, particularly roadside mines, group attacks by suicide bombers on some government and foreign important targets in Kabul and some other provinces and ambushes against foreign and local aggressor forces were very effective. Perhaps, the same attacks may continue with some new tactics. Regarding our future political strategy, I should say that if the aggressor forces continue their military bullying, dream about invading Afghanistan, stand fast or send more troops, they should not expect us to show softness either.
Increase in foreign troops

Q: In your opinion, will the foreigners be able to defeat the resistance by increasing the number of troops in Afghanistan or not?

A: It is obvious that the aggressive forces in Afghanistan are not to some extent faced with lack of troops, militias, financial and military facilities, etc, but the problems they are faced with are their soldiers' weak fighting morality and unsparing support of the Afghan mojahedin nation and their increasing coordination with jihad. Even if they (the foreigners) send more troops to Afghanistan, they will have no other achievements but heavy casualties.

Q: What is the major cause of the foreigners' lack of success in Afghanistan so far?

A: Although the Americans anticipated eight years ago that the Taleban would no longer pose a military problem for them in Afghanistan, saying they (the Taleban) were finished for ever and could no longer move around or resist, these US expectations were proved wrong very quickly. Not only did the Taleban not leave the scene, they changed every foot of Afghanistan into a stronghold of jihad and resistance against the Americans. Now, the situation in Afghanistan has reached a stage where all the areas, deserts, mountains and villages of the country have changed into hot griddles and enemies for the invaders. The invaders tried to kill the spirit of jihad among the Afghans by using all kind of weapons such as arbitrariness, force, money, etc, but since the Afghans love their faith, belief, independence and national power, the invaders are, with the blessing of God, defeated and do not have any chances of victory.

Source of Taleban weapons

Q: Where do you receive weapons and ammunitions from for the current resistance?

A: In our fight against the aggressive forces in Afghanistan, we use weapons which were used by the mojahedin against the Russians. These weapons are still in Afghanistan. Some weapons dumps built during the period of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan still exist and the mojahedin use them. The mojahedin also capture some weapons and ammunitions from the enemy from time to time as booty of war, because the enemies escape from the battlefields immediately and leave all their weapons.
Efforts to split Taleban, Al-Qa'idah

Q: The foreigners want to separate the Taleban from Al-Qa'idah and reach an agreement with the Taleban. Do you think this is possible? How close are the Taleban and Al-Qa'idah at the moment?

A: The current jihad in Afghanistan is led by the Islamic Emirate. What the international community says about separating the Taleban and Al-Qa'idah is meaningless, it is just a pretext.

Q: Where are the Taleban leaders and Usamah Bin-Ladin? Is it true they are in Pakistan? Is the Taleban Leadership Council in Quetta or not?

A: So far as the leadership of the Islamic Emirate is concerned, they are not in Pakistan. We can also say that the leadership of Al-Qa'idah is not in Pakistan.
Peace talks

Q: They say some Taleban commanders and leaders support talks with the government which has caused differences and conflicts among the Taleban. Is it true?

A: I think the weapons and propaganda to split and separate the Islamic Emirate have lost their value by now. Over the past eight years, they have just been pointless rants by America and other aggressor forces.

Q: Have you ever talked to the government or the foreigners?

A: No.

Q: They say Abdollah Anas has negotiated representing the Taleban. Is he your representative?

A: We have neither permitted anyone to negotiate nor do we have any representative by the name of Abdollah Anas.

Q: If you are ready to negotiate, with whom will you negotiate and on what conditions?

A: Afghanistan has been attacked and invaded. If the aggressor forces take steps to end their invasion and put an end to their aggression and if we have guarantees of that, we will then explicitly announce our stance.

Q: After the new forces are deployed, the total number of the foreign forces in Afghanistan will be more than 130,000 soldiers. How and with what strategies will you and other resistance groups confront these forces?

A: The previous jihadi strategy has been very effective and efficient against the aggressive forces. Continuing the same strategy with some new initiatives will beat the Americans' military arrogance and defeat them.

Q: If the foreigners leave Afghanistan, will you be able to negotiate with Hamed Karzai and his other allies?

A: Karzai's administration is a symbol and unclean sign of the Americans. The Afghans are very sensitive about and strictly hate the administration. Still, this is a question which could be answered when the aggressors leave Afghanistan.

Q: As an Afghan, what do you think is the solution for the problem in Afghanistan?

A: Withdrawal of the aggressors and establishment of an Islamic system.

Q: When you come closer to power in the future, what kind of a system will you suggest?

A: The Afghans always demand and hope for an Islamic system in Afghanistan.

Q: How can you assure the Afghans that there will be no civil and domestic wars after the foreigners leave Afghanistan?

A: If the foreigners, particularly our neighbouring countries give up their obvious and secret conspiracies and stop interfering in domestic affairs of Afghanistan, the Islamic Emirate has the pride and initiative to ensure peace and stability all around the country. Meanwhile, thank God unity and single leadership of the jihad line is also present which can avoid such calamities.

Q: How can you assure the world that no country will be attacked from here after the foreigners leave Afghanistan and you come to power?

A: We had given the world such an assurance also during the Islamic Emirate's previous era. We have and will have the same stance in the future as well.

Q: Are you ready to include former communists, the mojahedin groups which fought amongst each other and members of the current administration in the future system?

A: This will be decided later depending on conditions.

(Description of Source: Peshawar Afghan Islamic Press in Pashto -- Peshawar Afghan Islamic Press in Pashto -- Peshawar-based agency, staffed by Afghans, that describes itself as an independent "news agency" but whose history and reporting pattern reveal a perceptible pro-Taliban bias; the AIP's founder-director, Mohammad Yaqub Sharafat, has long been associated with a mujahidin faction that merged with the Taliban's "Islamic Emirate" led by Mullah Omar; subscription required to access content; http://www.afghanislamicpress.com

http://www.juancole.com/2010/01/taleban-deputy-leader-warns-of-more.html

Afghans turn to Taleban justice as insurgents set up shadow government

Jerome Starkey in Kabul

When Habiba’s elderly husband was badly beaten in a village brawl there was only one place, she said, that she could turn to for help and justice.

Barefoot and weeping, the farmer’s wife, 50, trekked for four hours through Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush mountains to meet the local Taleban commander.

“My feet were bleeding and I cried the whole way but I didn’t care about my safety,” she said. “We are poor people. We know the Government doesn’t help people like us.”

Corruption and incompetence in President Karzai’s Government — particularly at local level — have forced a growing number of people to seek the services of the Taleban.

The shadow government is not limited to justice. In Helmand, in August, Taleban commanders issued printed travel permits on headed notepaper from the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” to let people through checkpoints on the roads in and out of Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital.

A senior Nato intelligence official admitted this week that the Taleban “has a government-in-waiting, with ministers chosen,” ready to take over the moment the current administration failed. He warned, in a bleak assessment of the insurgents’ strength: “Time is running out. Taleban influence is expanding.”

The Taleban, which Nato says run shadow governments in 33 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces, are only too willing to help settle local disputes. Their strict, if brutal, interpretation of Islamic law is often preferable to the lengthy and costly Government alternative.

“My husband had a broken leg so he sent me to find Mullah Zafar,” Habiba said. “We don’t know anyone in the Government and we know they won’t solve our problems.”

Mullah Zafar Akhund is the Taleban’s shadow governor in Jaghatu district, Wardak province, a short drive south of Kabul.

Habiba’s husband, Abdullah, who is 20 years her senior, fought with a neighbour called Qasim over water rights. Village customs prescribe which fields should be watered at which times. Habiba said that Qasim was stealing the water when it was not his time and turned violent when her husband challenged him.

“I waited two hours to see Mullah Zafar,” she said. “He listened to my story and sent three of his soldiers to come back to my village. They spoke to the village elders who told them the same thing. The soldiers beat Qasim and ordered him to give us his water for seven nights.”

Habiba, an ethnic Hazara, is not a natural ally of the Taleban. Most of them are Pashtuns, and thousands of Hazaras were massacred under the Taleban regime. The insurgents have exploited local disputes that the Government cannot solve to gain footholds in new areas, irrespective of the ethnic divides. For many years, locals said, Mullah Zafar provided an alternative to Government institutions.

Six months ago he felt sufficiently entrenched in Jaghatu to issue a decree that anyone found using Government services would face summary execution.

“Not everybody likes them but they were good to me,” said Reza Yousef, one of Habiba’s neighbours with a similar experience of Taleban justice. He spent four years petitioning government officials for help with a land dispute. “They didn’t care,” he said. “It took Mullah Zafar four days.

“Ten years ago we had a problem with our land,” he said. “One of our neighbours was powerful because he had connections [to a warlord] and he took some of our land.

“When [Hamid Karzai’s] Government came I complained many, many times but they didn’t hear me.”

Mr Yousef said that he could not afford the mandatory bribe to push his complaint through the system. He took his case to the village elders, or shura, and they ruled in his favour three times.

His neighbour, Younus, ignored their decisions, confident that he was protected through his links to Karim Khalili, the Hazara warlord recently appointed as one of Mr Karzai’s vice-presidents.

“It was around three years ago I went to Mullah Zafar and showed him the papers which prove the land is mine,” Mr Yousef said. “He sent four of his soldiers to my village to see for themselves and the next day he came to the village himself and held a shura with all the elders.”

The meeting, overlooked by insurgents armed with Kalashnikovs and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, was, in effect, a Taleban court.

“Younus was hiding in the place where they keep cows but they found him and they beat him badly. His face was bleeding,” Mr Yousef said.

Younus was exiled for two months and ordered to hand back the land. “If you complain to the Government it takes years; they ask you for bribes and you have to go to their offices every day,” Mr Yousef said. “That’s why people choose the Taleban.

Source:http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/Afghanistan/article6970962.ece

The Necklace

The cheerful little girl with bouncy golden curls was almost five. Waiting with her mother at the checkout stand, she saw them, a circle of glistening white pearls in a pink foil box.

“Oh mommy please, Mommy. Can I have them? Please, Mommy, please?”

Quickly the mother checked the back of the little foil box and then looked back into the pleading blue eyes of her little girl’s upturned face.

“A dollar ninety-five. That’s almost $2.00. If you really want them, I’ll think of some extra chores for you and in no time you can save enough money to buy them for yourself. Your birthday’s only a week away and you might get another crisp dollar bill from Grandma.”

As soon as Jenny got home, she emptied her penny bank and counted out 17 pennies. After dinner, she did more than her share of chores and she went to the neighbor and asked Mrs. McJames if she could pick dandelions for ten cents. On her birthday,Grandma did give her another new dollar bill and at last she had enough money to buy the necklace.

Jenny loved her pearls. They made her feel dressed up and grown up. She wore them everywhere, Sunday school, kindergarten, even to bed. The only time she took them off was when she went swimming or had a bubble bath. Mother said if they got wet, they might turn her neck green.

Jenny had a very loving daddy and every night when she was ready for bed, he would stop whatever he was doing and come upstairs to read her a story. One night as he finished the story, he asked Jenny, “Do you love me?”

“Oh yes, daddy. You know that I love you.”

“Then give me your pearls.”

“Oh, daddy, not my pearls. But you can have Princess, the white horse from my collection, the one with the pink tail. Remember, daddy? The one you gave me. She’s my very favorite.”

“That’s okay, Honey, daddy loves you. Good night.” And he brushed her cheek with a kiss.

About a week later, after the story time, Jenny’s daddy asked again, “Do you love me?”

“Daddy, you know I love you.”

“Then give me your pearls.”

“Oh Daddy, not my pearls. But you can have my baby doll. The brand new one I got for my birthday. She is beautiful and you can have the yellow blanket that matches her sleeper.”

“That’s okay. Sleep well. God bless you, little one. Daddy loves you.”

And as always, he brushed her cheek with a gentle kiss.

A few nights later when her daddy came in, Jenny was sitting on her bed with her legs crossed Indian style.

As he came close, he noticed her chin was trembling and one silent tear rolled down her cheek. “What is it, Jenny? What’s the matter?”

Jenny didn’t say anything but lifted her little hand up to her daddy. And when she opened it, there was her little pearl necklace. With a little quiver, she finally said, “Here, daddy; this is for you.”

With tears gathering in his own eyes, Jenny’s daddy reached out with one hand to take the dime store necklace, and with the other hand he reached into his pocket and pulled out a blue velvet case with a strand of genuine pearls and gave them to Jenny.

He had them all the time… He was just waiting for her to give up the dime-store stuff so he could give her the genuine treasure.

So it is, with God. He is waiting for us to give up the cheap things in our lives so that he can give us beautiful treasures.

Are you holding onto things that God wants you to let go of?

Are you holding on to harmful or unnecessary partners, relationships, habits and activities that you have come so attached to that it seems impossible to let go? Sometimes it is so hard to see what is in the other hand but do believe this one thing.

God will never take away something without giving you something better in its place.