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Sunday, September 27, 2009

[chottala.com] answer of mr. belal's reply about a e-mail 'Please comment against educaion policy'



hello belal sb,
 
I think u r misguding yourself. In your reply you did not touch any of my points. But, you converted the debate by political slang. I think this is for your secular mind. Such this way you proved that secular concept is anti logic, anti-religion which some of our politicians denying for several years. You also proved that secular concept is anti democracy that u couln't tolarate others opinion. But we can tolarate your opinion because of our faith.
 
We the majority people of bangladesh have a common faith on Islam. So we need the touch of our faith in our education system. We think it may help our nation to be more patience, more industrious, more productive, more human which can develop our nation.
 
By this way your political slang are ignored.
 
Kazi Mohammad Ismail
Dhaka

----------------------------
again to all
please comment against education policy in following

 

contact nos-

 

Fax: 88-02-7167577

email: info@moedu.gov.bd

website:- http://www.moedu.gov.bd/feedback_form.php

 



From: Belal Beg <begbelal@hotmail.com>
To: kazimohammadismail@yahoo.com; abuilla@yahoo.com; alochona@yahoogroups.com; americamyland@yahoo.com; bangladesh_news_website@yahoogroups.com; bangladesh_politcs@yahoogroups.com; bangladeshcommunity@yahoogroups.com; banglapolitics@yahoogroups.com; banglarnari@yahoogroups.com; "chetona71@yahoogroups.com" <chetona71@yahoogroups.com>; chottala@yahoogroups.com; citizen.bangladesh@gmail.com; dahuk@yahoogroups.com; danaprnt@bdcom.com; dhakamails@yahoogroups.com; diagnose@yahoogroups.com; engr_sm@yahoo.com; futureofbangladesh@yahoogroups.com; gopalsengupta@aol.com; hasanshabbir-owner@googlegroups.com; history_islam@yahoogroups.com; i_faruk@yahoo.com; ibrahim_monsur@yahoo.com; islamcity@yahoogroups.com; jalalabir@gmail.com; khabor@yahoogroups.com; khalidhasan@hotmail.com; mali1960@juno.com; mizan.majumder@auatac.com; mukto-akash@yahoo.com; mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com; muktochinta@yahoogroups.com; "muktomona@yahoogroups.com" <muktomona@yahoogroups.com>; nabic-l@yahoogroups.com; niazpasha@yahoo.com; nibulbul2006@yahoo.com; Nurun nabi <nurannabi@aol.com>; odhora@yahoogroups.com; Jamal Hasan <poplu@hotmail.com>; progressive-muslim@yahoogroups.com; protest_emergency@yahoo.com; rubel_ahsan@yahoo.com; sa7rong@yahoogroups.com; sahannan@sonarbangladesh.com; sahannan@yahoogroups.com; salmamoon@yahoo.com; shetubondhon@yahoogroups.com; shonar-bangla@yahoogroups.com; skabir@hsc.usf.edu; sonarbangladesh@yahoogroups.com; syed.aslam3@gmail.com; uttorshuri@yahoogroups.com; "veirsmill@yahoo.com" <veirsmill@yahoo.com>; vinnomot@yahoo.com; vinnomot@yahoogroups.com; "walihaque@yahoo.com" <walihaque@yahoo.com>; wideminds@yahoogroups.com; witness-pioneer@yahoogroups.com
Cc: info@moedu.gov.bd
Sent: Sunday, September 20, 2009 6:30:39 PM
Subject: RE: Please comment against educaion policy

Hello Kazi Sb,
You have tricked me into an unwanted and useless debate. If I back out, your ignorance, half informations, confusions and half-baked ideas will go unchallenged.
1. You acknowledged that British colonialists introduced Madrassa. They also introduced 'schools' meaning the same as Madrassa in Arabic. Why did they do so? It was the Macaulayian principle of 'Devide and rule'. You said this is not a factor against religious education. But this is the most important factor as religius education is faith-based and secular education is intellect based. Faith may be true or false and you can not question it. Madrassa educated Bengali Muslims, generation after generation did not use their gift of reasoning for more than hundred years. As a result they have become a concieted class of social weeds living on charity and sell of religious services to ignorant villagers.
2. Religious education is indeed burden to modern State. That is why religion is not taught in public schools. It goes against modern concept of education which says, 'education is life and preparation for life' Modern education is based on understanding of human psychology through its various stages of development till a human youth gets into the stream of work force with ability and efficiency. ( Ayub Khan's education policy had a wonderful slogan 'education is investment in human resources')

The curses of western civilization you mentioned, are not effects of education system; they are individual differences in a free society. Threat to family ties is their acute concern also. This actually became highlighted in the last few elections of America . The educators and the media are all trying to keep up the family bondage along with individual freedom. Family ties of Bengali Muslims or Bengali Hindus do not come from religion, they are part of our Bengali common cultural heritage. The curses you mentioned may look curse to people who do not understand western society which places highest value to individual freedom and dignity. As a matter of fact, their common people like you and  most of the Churches also cry against those human conditions

You have mentioned a few crimes and you jumped into the conclusion that religious education can stop them. Concept of crime is a very complicated issue. You seemed to have oversimplified it. Some crimes may lie in genes but most crimes come from social, cultural and economic situations in a class-ridden society where distribution of wealth and amenities is unjust. If religious education could do away with crime, Bangladeshi Muslims ( most of the criminals ) would never do any crime because all of them begin their life with religious teaching at home and Maktabs.

Bhai Ismail, I have lost my patience by trying to reply to you paragraph by paragraph. I did understand you are either an incorrigible Jamatee or a rootless BNP. You do not understand the spirit of the historical Bangali who is religious by nature and secular by culture. You will never understand the significance and impact of Liberation War because of your blind religious views. Suffice it say Quodrot e Khuda Commission is based on the spirit of Muktijuddoh. It was under a process of scrutiny when enemies of Bangladesh massacred Bangabandhu and his family along with four top national leaders in order to surreptitiously retake Bangladesh for the so called Islamic Republic of Pakistan. You know very well who brought in expelled Golam Azam and who created BNP to protect Jamaat, the agent of Pakistan . It is our great fortune that we could model our new education policy in the line of Quodrot e Khuda Commission.

Bhai Ismail,

May I request you not to pester me further by continuing this incoherent meaningless debate. Even if you do so, I will delete it immediately. Thank you

Belal Beg

    





Date: Sat, 19 Sep 2009 23:09:39 -0700
From: kazimohammadismail@yahoo.com
Subject: Re: Please comment against educaion policy
To: begbelal@hotmail.com; abuilla@yahoo.com; alochona@yahoogroups.com; americamyland@yahoo.com; bangladesh_news_website@yahoogroups.com; bangladesh_politcs@yahoogroups.com; bangladeshcommunity@yahoogroups.com; banglapolitics@yahoogroups.com; banglarnari@yahoogroups.com; chetona71@yahoogroups.com; chottala@yahoogroups.com; citizen.bangladesh@gmail.com; dahuk@yahoogroups.com; danaprnt@bdcom.com; dhakamails@yahoogroups.com; diagnose@yahoogroups.com; engr_sm@yahoo.com; futureofbangladesh@yahoogroups.com; gopalsengupta@aol.com; hasanshabbir-owner@googlegroups.com; history_islam@yahoogroups.com; i_faruk@yahoo.com; ibrahim_monsur@yahoo.com; islamcity@yahoogroups.com; jalalabir@gmail.com; khabor@yahoogroups.com; khalidhasan@hotmail.com; mali1960@juno.com; mizan.majumder@auatac.com; mukto-akash@yahoo.com; mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com; muktochinta@yahoogroups.com; muktomona@yahoogroups.com; nabic-l@yahoogroups.com; niazpasha@yahoo.com; nibulbul2006@yahoo.com; nurannabi@aol.com; odhora@yahoogroups.com; poplu@hotmail.com; progressive-muslim@yahoogroups.com; protest_emergency@yahoo.com; rubel_ahsan@yahoo.com; sa7rong@yahoogroups.com; sahannan@sonarbangladesh.com; sahannan@yahoogroups.com; salmamoon@yahoo.com; shetubondhon@yahoogroups.com; shonar-bangla@yahoogroups.com; skabir@hsc.usf.edu; sonarbangladesh@yahoogroups.com; syed.aslam3@gmail.com; uttorshuri@yahoogroups.com; veirsmill@yahoo.com; vinnomot@yahoo.com; vinnomot@yahoogroups.com; walihaque@yahoo.com; wideminds@yahoogroups.com; witness-pioneer@yahoogroups.com
CC: info@moedu.gov.bd

Dear Belal sb

 

Salam and thanks for your reply. You are obviously right that The British Emperor creates the problem. But question is not there. Question is here, what should we do now.

 

Firstly, we should think that religious education is not burden to be a modern(?) state. What modern concept will be agreed by you? As like American or British. The modern America/Europe is against family life. They agreed with lesbianism, ageism, firing in school, dancing, nudism, huge number of single mother or child without father. The modern civilization is like individualism where women only bear the duties to her children. The child never can get sympathy or any rights from his father. The modern concept is to aggression to another country and killing mass people.

 

It is because only the faith. They have no faith in their education. They have no responsibility in their own or to other people or to other faith.

 

So, we need to include our faith in our educational policy.

 

Secondly, you know that our nation are suffering for hijacking, kidnapping, muggers, roberring, murder etc. even by our university/college students. If they have proper knowledge about the final reconciliation after the death they never can do this.

 

So, we have to include responsibility and religious faith in our educational system.

 

Thirdly, the proposed educational system is more biased by political concept. The so called Kudrati khuda Comission was formed by our great leader Bnagabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. But he never implemented the secular system in our country. Moreover the Kudrati Khuda commission proposal was targeted for 2o years from 1972. But it left 40 years. So, why should we accept the old concept?

 

Fourthly, If this is not political proposal why only Madhrasha education system would be changed and why not it in A level, O level or kindergarten system? For why O level and A level students should not be taught about 'Bangladesh Knowledge?' Why it will be touch only into madrasha and general system? Why only Madrasha education will be supervised by local public but not general system? what is the answer?

 

Fifthly, religious education system is not burden to modern knowledge. Islam emphasised about scientific research and thus we saw that Muslims scholars rides the worlds education for about 7 hundreds years.

 

So, why should not we want to sit as rider again?

 

Sixthly, now a days we read the news that different modern country like Britain proposed to educate their children with proper religious knowledge in their school. And by the President Obama's speech we know that settler's students are doing better than American origin. And it is for their inherited religious concept, responsibility to their family and country.

 

So, what's the problem to get religious knowledge for our children in our country?

 

Seventhly, we all read the news about Dr. Emajuddin Ahmed's comments. He speaks at a seminar at National Press club organised by Sacheton Nagorik Samaj. He said that no education will be fruitful without religious knowledge. Secular education concept is no where in the world. Religion is the origin of the education. Education comes from Mandir, Masjid, Girga, Pagoda. So, no education will be completed without its origin (religion).

 

Moreover, I thanking you again. And I always honour your comments and I never cut off your contact from my e-mail list. I think you will honour my comments and our government will honour our nation's faith and will cancel the proposed education policy.

 

I agreed with you that our half educated 'moulavis' are blind about modern world. Besides, I also think that our half educated 'misters' are irresponsible to our country and corruption halted our development. I firmly agreed that If our government honour some of our religious scholar's thinking a few review/amendment of the policy can fruitful and acceptable to the whole nation.

 

Thank u all.

 

 

Kazi Mohammad Ismail Pavel.

Mirpur, Dhaka




From: Belal Beg <begbelal@hotmail.com>
To: kazimohammadismail@yahoo.com; abuilla@yahoo.com; alochona@yahoogroups.com; americamyland@yahoo.com; bangladesh_news_website@yahoogroups.com; bangladesh_politcs@yahoogroups.com; bangladeshcommunity@yahoogroups.com; banglapolitics@yahoogroups.com; banglarnari@yahoogroups.com; "chetona71@yahoogroups.com" <chetona71@yahoogroups.com>; chottala@yahoogroups.com; citizen.bangladesh@gmail.com; dahuk@yahoogroups.com; danaprnt@bdcom.com; dhakamails@yahoogroups.com; diagnose@yahoogroups.com; engr_sm@yahoo.com; futureofbangladesh@yahoogroups.com; gopalsengupta@aol.com; hasanshabbir-owner@googlegroups.com; history_islam@yahoogroups.com; i_faruk@yahoo.com; ibrahim_monsur@yahoo.com; islamcity@yahoogroups.com; jalalabir@gmail.com; khabor@yahoogroups.com; khalidhasan@hotmail.com; mali1960@juno.com; mizan.majumder@auatac.com; mukto-akash@yahoo.com; mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com; muktochinta@yahoogroups.com; "muktomona@yahoogroups.com" <muktomona@yahoogroups.com>; nabic-l@yahoogroups.com; niazpasha@yahoo.com; nibulbul2006@yahoo.com; Nurun nabi <nurannabi@aol.com>; odhora@yahoogroups.com; Jamal Hasan <poplu@hotmail.com>; progressive-muslim@yahoogroups.com; protest_emergency@yahoo.com; rubel_ahsan@yahoo.com; sa7rong@yahoogroups.com; sahannan@sonarbangladesh.com; sahannan@yahoogroups.com; salmamoon@yahoo.com; shetubondhon@yahoogroups.com; shonar-bangla@yahoogroups.com; skabir@hsc.usf.edu; sonarbangladesh@yahoogroups.com; syed.aslam3@gmail.com; uttorshuri@yahoogroups.com; "veirsmill@yahoo.com" <veirsmill@yahoo.com>; vinnomot@yahoo.com; vinnomot@yahoogroups.com; "walihaque@yahoo.com" <walihaque@yahoo.com>; wideminds@yahoogroups.com; witness-pioneer@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, September 20, 2009 2:40:06 AM
Subject: RE: Please comment against educaion policy

Dear Kazi sb,
It is obvious you do not know me or my mission in life. If you did, you could never include me in your mailing list. Actually, I stand diametrically opposed to you in all respects. your idea of religion or the need of religious education is no different than half informed village Moulavi who is happily blind about the advancement of human civilization and the needs of a modern State. The education policy which has been prepared by some of the topmost scholars of the country seems to be able to foster a purposeful productive people and develop a standard of life which will be modern at the same time based on our heritage. Unfortunately,the Commission did not dare abolish Madrassa education, the British tool to keep out from the body-polity, the dangerous Muslim population by making them satisfied and steeped in their imported Arab customs and tradition. They however wisely created avenues for the Madrassa students to follow their own aptitudes and ambitions. Phenomenal progress in communication technology has made our planet a global village where young generation will vie for the best jobs anywhere, why should we, the older generation keep them deprived of a life which is local, national and global at the same time. The so called Islamic education is a bundel of archaic rather moribund ideas of a useless, wasted generation who could not free themselves from the shackles put on them by their forefathers. They have no right to stand on the way of the new generation who have the total gamut of human knowledge and technology at the tip of their fingers handing a computer Mouse.
I will request you to review your own thought process which I am afraid is stunted over a long time.

Date: Sat, 19 Sep 2009 10:33:44 -0700
From: kazimohammadismail@yahoo.com
Subject: Please comment against educaion policy
To: abuilla@yahoo.com; alochona@yahoogroups.com; americamyland@yahoo.com; bangladesh_news_website@yahoogroups.com; bangladesh_politcs@yahoogroups.com; bangladeshcommunity@yahoogroups.com; BanglaPolitics@yahoogroups.com; banglarnari@yahoogroups.com; begbelal@hotmail.com; chetona71@yahoogroups.com; chottala@yahoogroups.com; citizen.bangladesh@gmail.com; dahuk@yahoogroups.com; danaprnt@bdcom.com; dhakamails@yahoogroups.com; diagnose@yahoogroups.com; engr_sm@yahoo.com; FutureOfBangladesh@yahoogroups.com; gopalsengupta@aol.com; hasanshabbir-owner@googlegroups.com; history_islam@yahoogroups.com; i_faruk@yahoo.com; ibrahim_monsur@yahoo.com; islamcity@yahoogroups.com; jalalabir@gmail.com; khabor@yahoogroups.com; khalidhasan@hotmail.com; mali1960@juno.com; mizan.majumder@auatac.com; mukto-akash@yahoo.com; mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com; muktochinta@yahoogroups.com; muktomona@yahoogroups.com; nabic-l@yahoogroups.com; niazpasha@yahoo.com; nibulbul2006@yahoo.com; nurannabi@aol.com; odhora@yahoogroups.com; poplu@hotmail.com; progressive-muslim@yahoogroups.com; protest_emergency@yahoo.com; rubel_ahsan@yahoo.com; sa7rong@yahoogroups.com; sahannan@sonarbangladesh.com; sahannan@yahoogroups.com; salmamoon@yahoo.com; Shetubondhon@yahoogroups.com; shonar-bangla@yahoogroups.com; skabir@hsc.usf.edu; sonarbangladesh@yahoogroups.com; syed.aslam3@gmail.com; uttorshuri@yahoogroups.com; veirsmill@yahoo.com; vinnomot@yahoo.com; vinnomot@yahoogroups.com; walihaque@yahoo.com; WideMinds@yahoogroups.com; witness-pioneer@yahoogroups.com

Dear Brothers and sisters
 
Assalamu Alaikum
 
Pls input/send your comments into following e-mail/website/fax and phone.
 
I have already sent my comments as under. Pls read the policy and find a lot of anti islamic/anti nationals concepts in the policy paper. Comments against that words within 30 september.
 
ma-assalam
 
kazi mohammad ismail pavel
 
-----
my comments about it
 

Dear sir

 

assalamu alaikum

 

The proposed education policy is not fruitful for our country. Please reject the policy. Your policy is to reduce religious knowledge but everyone of world knows that its a fundamental subject for teaching of a human being. Without any religious knowledge there is no difference between man and wilds beasts. So you should emphasize on relious based education system instead of secular concept. Now you should rejecet/cancel the following line/para/words from your proposed policy:-

 

1. Secular based educational system.

2. Lalitakala as a subject for primary level

3. Supervision of local people for madhrashas

4. More general subjects in madhrashas instead of arabic language. On the other side there is no more option for taking relious subjects for general sides.

5. Amalgamation of Madhrasha system into the general system.

6. No more interruption in A level or O level or in kindergarten system.

 

 

You should also adopt the following:-

 

1. Compulsory Religious subjects up to intermediate level.

2. Upper level should have option for taking religious subject as subsidiary syllabus.

3. Religious Practicing students should have get extra marks for public examination and appointment in any job.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

 

Kazi Mohammad Ismail Pavel

Mirpur Dhaka

 

-

contact nos-

 

Fax: 88-02-7167577

email: info@moedu.gov.bd

website:- http://www.moedu.gov.bd/feedback_form.php

 

 

 

Phone Nos- (you may call them personally to request them to reject the policy paper)

 

Wings under MoE


 

Wing

Branch

Section

Administration and Finance
Headed by: Additional Secretary(Administration and Finance)
Phone: 880-2-7166261

Headed by: Deputy Secretary (Admin-1)
Phone: 880-2-7160490

Sr. Assistant Secretary/ Assistant Secretary, Admin. and Estab. (Sec-1)
Phone: 880-2-7161130

Sr. Assistant Secretary/ Assistant Secretary, General Service (Sec-2)
Phone: 880-2-9558551

Accounts Officer
Phone: 880-2-7168571

Headed by: Deputy Secretary (Admin-2)
Phone: 880-2-7167908

Sr. Assistant Secretary/ Assistant Secretary, Parliament & Coordination (Sec-4)
Phone: 880-2-7167107

Sr. Assistant Secretary/ Assistant Secretary, Budget (Sec-3)
Phone: 880-2-7160223

Librarian
Phone: 880-2-7160464

Headed by: System Analyst (ICT Cell)
Phone: 880-2-7162653

Programmer:
Phone:

Asst. Programmer-1
Phone: 880-2-7167579

Asst. Programmer-2
Phone: 880-2-9565736

College
Headed by: Joint Secretary (College)
Phone: 880-2-7168798

Headed by: Deputy Secretary (College)
Phone: 880-2-7165437

Sr. Assistant Secretary/ Assistant Secretary, College-1 (Sec-6)
Phone: 880-2-7160467

Sr. Assistant Secretary/ Assistant Secretary, College-2 (Sec-7)
Phone: 880-2-9553276

Sr. Assistant Secretary/ Assistant Secretary, College-3 (Sec-8)
Phone: 880-2-9570663

Sr. Assistant Secretary/ Assistant Secretary, College-4 (Sec-9)
Phone: 880-2-7166801

Secondary
Headed by: Joint Secretary (Secondary)
Phone: 880-2-7166689

Headed by: Deputy Secretary(Secondary)
Phone: 880-2-7165023

Sr. Assistant Secretary/ Assistant Secretary, Govt. School & Board (Sec-10)
Phone: 880-2-7162483

Sr. Assistant Secretary/ Assistant Secretary, Non Govt. School Raj & Dhaka Div. (Sec-11)
Phone: 880-2-9550341

Sr. Assistant Secretary/ Assistant Secretary, Law/Registration & non. Govt. School except Dhaka , Raj
Phone: 880-2-9570672

Sr. Assistant Secretary/ Assistant Secretary, M.P.O. (Sec-13)
Phone: 880-2-7160517

University
Headed by: Joint Secretary(University)
Phone: 880-2-7166460

Headed by: Deputy Secretary (University)
Phone: 880-2-7167909

Sr. Assistant Secretary/ Assistant Secretary, University-1 (Sec-17)
Phone: 880-2-9572185

Sr. Assistant Secretary/ Assistant Secretary, University-2 (Sec-18)
Phone: 880-2-9572185

Sr. Assistant Secretary/ Assistant Secretary, Scholarship (Sec-19)
Phone: 880-2-7165032

Development
Headed by: Additional Secretary(Development)
Phone: 880-2-9556789

Headed by: Deputy Secretary (Development-1)
Phone: 880-2-7163149

Sr. Assistant Secretary/ Assistant Secretary Development-1 (Sec-20)
Phone: 880-2-7165258

Sr. Assistant Secretary/ Assistant Secretary Development-2 (Sec-21)
Phone: 880-2-7160876

Headed by: Deputy Secretary (Development-2)
Phone: 880-2-7167670

Sr. Assistant Secretary/ Assistant Secretary Development-3 (Sec-22)
Phone: 880-2-7169398

Sr. Assistant Secretary/ Assistant Secretary, Training (Sec-23)
Phone: 880-2-7169092

Planning
Headed by: Joint Chief (Planning)
Phone: 880-2-7166709

Headed by: Deputy Chief-1
Phone: 880-2-7162227

Sr. Assistant Chief/Assistant Chief, Planning-1
Phone: 880-2-9564387

Sr. Assistant Chief/Assistant Chief, Planning-2
Phone: 880-2-7160272

Sr. Assistant Chief/Assistant Chief, Planning-3
Phone: 880-2-7160614

Research Officer, Research Cell
Phone: 880-2-9571255

Headed by: Deputy Chief-2
Phone: 880-2-7160617

Sr. Assistant Chief/Assistant Chief, Planning-4
Phone: 880-2-9550830

Sr. Assistant Chief/Assistant Chief, Planning-5
Phone: 880-2-7160226

Sr. Assistant Chief/Assistant Chief, Planning-6
Phone: 880-2-9571127

Statistical Officer, Statistic Cell
Phone:

Audit and Law
Headed by: Joint Secretary(Audit and Law)
Phone: 880-2-9561574

Headed by: Deputy Secretary (Audit)
Phone: 880-02-7164336

Sr. Assistant Secretary / Assistant Secretary, DIA & BANBEIS (Sec-5)
Phone: 880-2-7163598

Audit Officer, Audit Cell
Phone: 880-2-7172550

Law Officer, Law Cell
Phone: 880-2-9563516

Tech. and Madrasha
Headed by: Joint Secretary(Tech & Madrasha)
Phone: 880-2-7169646

Headed by: Deputy Secretary (Tech. and Madrasha)
Phone: 880-2-7167908

Sr. Asst. Secretary / Asst. Secretary Madrasha (Sec-14)
Phone: 880-2-9570672

Sr. Asst. Secretary / Asst. Secretary Technical-1 (Sec.-15)
Phone: 880-2-9569726

Sr. Asst. Secretary / Asst. Secretary Techinical-2 (Sec-16)
Phone: 880-2-7161176

 





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[chottala.com] A victim of U.S. torture : Free Aafia Siddiqui By Sara Flounders New York



A victim of U.S. torture

Free Aafia Siddiqui

Published Sep 13, 2009 10:13 PM

Now that the documents recording the systematic torture of thousands of prisoners in secret U.S. prisons have been released to the world media in U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder's Aug. 24 report, the secret documents on the imprisonment and torture of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui must also be released.

Days before Siddiqui, a woman weighing less than 90 pounds, was again forcibly brought into United States District Court in Manhattan on contradictory charges of trying to murder FBI agents in Afghanistan, these documents of what the FBI and CIA are really doing in Afghanistan and in secret prisons around the world were referenced in major news stories for all to read.

Siddiqui has been held in secret detention since she was kidnapped in Pakistan at the age of 30. The now 36-year-old, U.S.-educated, Pakistani neuroscientist continues in court to say that she has been tortured. She has refused to accept visits even from appointed defense lawyers because the brutal and humiliating strip searches that she is subjected to are so personally and culturally degrading and excruciatingly painful.

Siddiqui has wounds and scars from her sternum to her lower abdomen after being shot by U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. Her charges of being tortured for years are hardly groundless. These acts are documented again and again on every page of the newly-released documents.

Tens of thousands of pages confirm in the most graphic details that CIA interrogators threatened to kill the children of detainees; threatened sexual assaults; threatened bound prisoners with guns and an electric drill; used water boarding against one prisoner 183 times; used shocking into unconsciousness, brutal strip searches, mock executions, confinement in a tiny box and continued slamming of the head.

Holder announced on Aug. 29 the appointment of a special federal prosecutor to investigate the interrogation practices of the CIA. These new documents represent the largest release of information about the Bush administration's once-secret system of capturing terrorism suspects and interrogating them in undisclosed locations around the world.

An ACLU lawsuit compelled the release of the CIA's own 2004 Inspector General's internal report on stomach-turning interrogations. These documents of "enhanced interrogation" tactics were heavily 'redacted' or censored with whole pages blocked out for "security reasons."

This 2004 report shows that the CIA kept detailed observational records on thousands of prisoners and the impact of their torture techniques on the human psyche. They made systematic measurements of the prisoners' reactions to torture. From the censured documents it is clear that medical doctors and psychologists betrayed their professions by monitoring calibrated, incremental increases of torture to bring about excruciating pain, terror, humiliation and shame. The documents make it clear that all tortures were designed to create a systematic emotional and psychological breakdown in the interrogated prisoners.

Held in secret prisons

Aafia Siddiqui is a graduate of  the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and holds a Ph.D. in neuroscience from Brandeis University. She is a deeply devout Muslim, who had been supportive of Muslim charities in Boston. On March 30, 2003, during a trip home to Karachi to visit her mother, she was kidnapped and "disappeared," along with her three children.

Human rights organizations had long demanded that U.S. and Pakistani intelligence agencies account for her disappearance. Human Rights Watch, a year before she was shot and flown to the U.S., considered her among those held at a "CIA black site"—a secret prison.

U.S. officials denied any knowledge of her for five years. But as far back as April 2003, the Press Trust of India reported that she had been arrested in Karachi and was being questioned by the FBI. U.S. intelligence sources at that time confirmed that Siddiqui was "essentially in the hands of the FBI now."

Siddiqui's family retained U.S. attorney Elaine Whitfield Sharp of Massachusetts to try to discover her location and to serve as their spokeswoman to the media. She had been filing cases seeking information in U.S. courts ever since Siddiqui's disappearance.

Millions of people in Pakistan and throughout the Muslim world, along with many human rights groups, always believed that the U.S. government forces and the Inter Services Intelligence of Pakistan had captured and tortured her and were holding her in secret prisons in Pakistan or Afghanistan. Many believe that she was the prisoner described as the Grey Lady of Bagram Prison at the U.S. Air Base in Afghanistan. Prisoners released from secret detention at Bagram described hearing the continuing howls of a woman prisoner being repeatedly raped and tortured. According to The Daily Times of Pakistan, "The cries of this helpless woman echoed with such torment in the jail that it prompted prisoners to go on hunger strike." (July 7, 2008)

A growing number of media in the region began reporting that Siddiqui had been in Bagram for the last five years, and calls for her release were escalating.

Contradictory charges

On Aug. 4, 2008, the U.S. government suddenly announced that Siddiqui had been arrested on July 17 and charged with attempted murder and assault of U.S. officers and employees. She was then flown to the U.S. in the custody of FBI agents.

Attorney Sharp told the New York Times, "We believe Aafia has been in U.S. custody ever since she disappeared." (Aug. 5, 2008)

In another interview with Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific, she said: "We do know she was at Bagram for a long time. According to my client she was there for years and she was held in American custody; her treatment was horrendous." (www.asia-pacific-action.org, Aug. 7)

A series of contrary reports claimed that U.S. soldiers, trying to take her from Afghan police who had arrested her in Ghazni, a city in central Afghanistan, had shot her after she managed to grab an M-4 rifle and shoot at two FBI agents. Neither agent was wounded.

How this 90-pound prisoner surrounded by both U.S. soldiers and Afghan police accomplished this was never explained. Other reports were that she was shot in the abdomen because U.S. soldiers feared she was a suicide bomber.

Neither the Afghan nor U.S. reports of how, when or even where Siddiqui was captured correspond with each other. The U.S. version claims she had maps of New York City targets in her handbag. Afghan officials claim the maps were of Afghan targets. What is known is that Siddiqui has been horribly brutalized and has been held in total isolation now for a year in U.S. prisons with terrible, life-threatening injuries.

The case has generated outrage all over the Muslim world. Dr. Siddiqui has become a symbol of the thousands of those who have "disappeared" and been tortured by expanding U.S. wars in the region.

Dr. Siddiqui has been brought into court in a wheelchair. This writer heard her tell the court again on Sept. 3, in her weak voice that she was tortured. She has been kept in extreme isolation and forced to listen to threats on the lives of her children. She was shown a picture of her son lying in a pool of his own blood.

Siddiqui's 12-year-old son has recently been released to her family. Her 11-year-old daughter is still unaccounted for. It is believed that her youngest, an infant at the time of Siddiqui's disappearance, died in custody.

Court hearings on Siddiqui's sanity ruled that she was fit to stand trial, although she was found to be delusional and depressed. U.S. attorney William Ruskin stated to the court that information about where she was for five years is "not relevant to these proceedings."

Pakistan's parliament unanimously passed a resolution that demanded immediate information on the whereabouts of Siddiqui's three children and demanded her immediate repatriation to Pakistan. A parliamentary delegation came to visit her. Facing growing mass outrage in Pakistan, the government allocated $2 million for U.S. lawyers to aid in her defense.

At a Sept. 3 court appearance, Siddiqui's trial date was set for Nov. 2. The courtroom was full of Pakistani and other Muslim supporters. Activists from the Pakistan USA Freedom Forum and other organizations have mobilized on days when Dr. Siddiqui is brought into court.

In addition to Elaine Sharp, the lawyer hired by the family, the lawyers hired by the Pakistani government are Linda Moreno and Charles Swift. Another lawyer, Chad Hadgar, will assist the team, as will the court-appointed defense attorney, Dawn Cardi. Moreno was a lawyer for Dr. Sami al-Arian, a Palestinian unjustly imprisoned in the U.S.

The legal team was appointed over Siddiqui's rejection of all lawyers. Linda Moreno said in a Sept. 3 press briefing that she felt that the legal team would have to earn Dr. Siddiqui's trust because: "After what she has been through she has no trust for the whole system. What has been done to Dr. Siddiqui is disgusting, degrading and humiliating. This is a Guantánamo case outside of Guantánamo. ... Dr. Siddiqui has been treated worse than the detainees at Guantánamo. ... We are confident that the evidence in this case will show that Dr. Siddiqui harmed no one. To the contrary, this 90-pound mother of three was shot and wounded herself, the alleged circumstances of which are not supported by evidence. Dr. Siddiqui harmed no one. She is innocent of these charges."

This is a case that must be taken up in full solidarity by the entire progressive movement, including the women's movement, the movement for immigrant rights and the broad movement against U.S. racism and war.

The demand for Siddiqui's freedom must be combined with the demand for the release of all the secret documents on Siddiqui's long imprisonment. The 130,000 pages of documents released by Holder confirm that the most detailed records were kept, with Nazi-like meticulousness, on the wrenching torture and racist abuse of countless prisoners held in U.S. secret prisons.

The case of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui exposes the whole sordid torturous role of the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan and the widening war in Pakistan. Support for her freedom and return to her family in Pakistan is a basic demand for human rights and justice for a woman who has been horrendously abused.

A rally to support Siddiqui is planned for Nov. 2 in front of U.S. District Court, 500 Pearl Street in Manhattan.


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Judge agrees to lawyers' team for Aafia

DAWN.com - ‎Sep 2, 2009‎
By Our Correspondent NEW YORK: A US judge on Wednesday agreed to accept a five-member lawyers' team to defend Pakistani neuroscientist Aafia Siddiqui ...

Aafia's lawyers to visit Pakistan

DAWN.com - Masood Haider - ‎Sep 5, 2009‎
NEW YORK: Two of the three new lawyers engaged by Pakistani government to defend Dr Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist accused of ...
 


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[chottala.com] 6 foreign troops killed in Afghanistan



Afghanistan Assessment Sparks Renewed Debate in Washington

Voice of America - Al Pessin - ‎3 hours ago‎
The publication Monday of the secret assessment by the new US and NATO commander in Afghanistan has sparked a fresh round of debate about what the coalition strategy should be, and how many troops are needed to implement it.

6 foreign troops killed in Afghanistan

KABUL — A suicide car bomb explosion targeting Afghanistan's energy minister killed four civilians Sunday, while attacks and a violent storm killed six international troops, including three French and two American forces, officials said.

Taliban assassination attempts against Afghan officials have intensified this year, with more than 100 officials and pro-government tribal elders attacked — half of them fatally.

The convoy carrying Energy Minister Ismail Khan, a powerbroker in the western region of Herat, was headed to the airport when a suicide car bomb exploded outside a high school, said Raouf Ahmadi, a police spokesman. Ahmadi said four civilians died and 17 people were wounded, including four of Khan's bodyguards.

He said Khan escaped unharmed and arrived safely at the airport.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, claimed responsibility and said the explosion targeted Khan, who was once governor of Herat, a western province bordering Iran.

The Taliban assassination campaign is a strong sign of deteriorating security in the country, where a record number of U.S. and NATO troops have also died this year. The Obama administration is now debating whether to send more American troops to Afghanistan as its government faces allegations of widespread fraud from the disputed Aug. 20 presidential election.

An airstrike Saturday by international forces in Wardak province, bordering Kabul, killed three Afghan civilians, said Shahidullah Shahid, spokesman for the provincial governor. Civilian deaths in airstrikes have infuriated Afghans, and the top NATO commander, U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, has made protecting innocent Afghans a top priority.

Two U.S. service members died Saturday in the country's south — one from a roadside bomb explosion and the other from an insurgent attack, the NATO-led force said. A British soldier died Sunday from a bomb explosion while patrolling in southern Afghanistan, Britain's Defense Ministry said.

Elsewhere, three French soldiers died in a violent storm in northeastern Afghanistan late Saturday. One soldier was struck by lightning while two were swept away by a rain-swollen river during an operation in Kapisa province, said military spokesman Christophe Prazuck.

This year has been the deadliest of the eight-year war for U.S. and NATO troops. The latest six deaths bring to 64 the number of NATO troops killed this month.

Elsewhere in western Afghanistan, three Afghan civilians died when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Farah province. Gen. Mohammad Faqir Askir, Farah's police chief, said the vehicle had just turned off the main highway toward a village when the bomb exploded.

Afghanistan's Interior Ministry said seven Taliban militants were killed in a gunbattle Saturday with police in Kunduz province, once a relatively peaceful region in the north of the country that has recently seen more violence as militants try to expand control.


 5 US troops killed in southern Afghan attacks
 
 

5 US troops killed in southern Afghan attacks

AP
 
 
By HEIDI VOGT, Associated Press Writer Heidi Vogt, Associated Press Writer Fri Sep 25, 7:55 am ET

KABUL – Five American troops were killed within 24 hours in southern Afghanistan, where Taliban militants have conducted an unrelenting campaign of bombings and attacks against U.S. and NATO forces.

This has been the deadliest year of the war for international forces and the Obama administration is debating whether to add still more troops to the 21,000-strong influx that began pouring into the country over the summer.

The five deaths announced Friday occurred in three separate attacks the day before in the south, where U.S. and NATO commanders have ramped up their operations to try to reverse Taliban gains.

The commander of U.S. and NATO forces, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, told "60 Minutes" the strength of the militant group took him by surprise when he arrived this summer.

"I think that in some areas that the breadth of the violence, the geographic spread of violence, is a little more than I would have gathered," he said in the interview, to be broadcast on Sunday.

Four soldiers died in the same small district of southeastern Zabul province, three of them killed when their Stryker vehicle hit a bomb, and the fourth shot to death in an insurgent attack, said U.S. military spokesman Lt. Robert Carr. The Stryker brigade arrived in Zabul as part of the summertime surge to try to secure the region ahead of Afghanistan's Aug. 20 presidential election.

Meanwhile, a U.S. Marine was fatally shot while on foot patrol in southwestern Nimroz province, said Capt. Elizabeth Mathias, a military spokeswoman.

The U.S. is on track to have 68,000 troops in Afghanistan by the end of 2009, but the Pentagon said McChrystal would ask this week for as many as 40,000 new forces. Some question the wisdom of sending more troops to support a government facing allegations of widespread fraud in last month's disputed vote.

About half of all Americans oppose increasing troop levels in Afghanistan, according to a poll released Friday. The New York Times/CBS News poll found that only 29 percent of respondents believed the U.S. should add troops in Afghanistan. The survey, conducted Sept. 19-23, had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

In a report to the White House, McChrystal argued that military commanders need to be less preoccupied with protecting their troops and send them out into Afghan communities more. He acknowledged this "could expose military personnel and civilians to greater risk in the near term," but said the payoff in terms of forging ties with the Afghan people would be worth it.

"Accepting some risk in the short term will ultimately save lives in the long run," he wrote.

The light-armored Stryker vehicles were sent to Afghanistan as part of a plan to take over a large swathe of the south. The idea behind the vehicles is that they can deploy quickly over large distances, exercising control over a much larger area than can be held by foot soldiers. However, they are more vulnerable to roadside bombs than more heavily armored vehicles.

Bombs planted in roads, fields and near bases now account for the majority of U.S. and NATO casualties and have proven especially dangerous in the south. With the five deaths, a total of 34 U.S. forces have died in Afghanistan in September. August, which was the deadliest month of the war for American troops, saw 51 deaths.

 

5 US troops killed in southern Afghan attacks

The Associated Press - ‎6 hours ago‎
KABUL — The military says five US troops have died in attacks in southern Afghanistan, where American and NATO forces have ramped up operations against the ...

5 US Soldiers Killed in Afghanistan

New York Times - Richard A. Oppel - ‎3 hours ago‎
But most NATO and American deaths are in the opium-rich badlands of southern Afghanistan, particularly in Helmand Province, where a Marine expeditionary ...

Bombs kill Canadian, US troops in Afghanistan

The Associated Press - Kay Johnson - ‎Sep 18, 2009‎
Ghulam Sakhi said the two storekeepers on each side of his carpentry workshop were among those killed in the fourth major attack in the capital in five ...

Videos

US Troops in Afghanistan CBS &nbsp-&nbsp Sep 21, 2009
Watch video


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