Police shoot 7 ‘terrorists’ to end kidnap in China’s restive Central Asia border region

Police in China’s restive Central Asia border region fatally shot seven members of a Muslim ethnic group in what officials said Thursday was an effort to end a kidnap by terrorists, but what a rights group said was extreme force.

Accounts from officials and government websites said police officers opened fire after they encounter resistance in a Wednesday night raid on a mountain hideout outside Hotan city to free two men kidnapped by “a violent terrorist group.”

Aside from the seven dead, four people were injured and another four were arrested, and while police freed the two hostages, one officer was killed and another injured, said an account on the official website of Xinjiang, the area where the incident took place. A spokeswoman for the Xinjiang government established the account and identified the kidnappers and their hostages as Uighurs, the indigenous, mainly Muslim ethnic group.

Long-simmering resentment among Uighurs over rule by China’s Han majority and influxes of Chinese migrants into Xinjiang has periodically erupted into violence. Separatist sentiment is rife, with some Uighurs advocating armed rebellion. A smaller fringe has been radicalized by radical calls for Muslim holy war and has been establish in training camps across the border in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

China has respond to the sporadic violence by raising the police presence, conducting raids and at times restricting the practice of Islam - moves that have further alienated many Uighurs and ratcheted up tensions.

China originally blamed that attack on Uighur terrorists trained overseas, and though the government regularly makes that accusation whenever violence erupts in Xinjiang, it has seldom provided proof to back up the claims of organized terrorism.

The actually easy way to stop terrorist acts

Former American President Jimmy Carter commented on the kind of state terrorism reflected in American actions in Guantanamo Bay and other places as a dishonor to the US. “I wouldn't say it's the reason of terrorism, but it has given force and excuses to potential terrorists to lash out at our country and justify their despicable acts.”
“Terrorism” and “terrorists” are the key labels of warmongers working to inspire fear into the public to justify military slaughtering. Just about anyone who refuses to obey with the dictates of pre-emptive military states can be targeted. The incredible part of this charade is that the labels are used by the states to justify outright murders while indulge in the same behavior under a different name.
The labels “terrorism” instills fear and arouses action. It was used to become engaged in the Iraq War. When either the US or Israel indulge in further pre-emptive strikes or assassination, it will be state terrorism used to protect against fictional terrorists. Scholar and author Noam Chomsky observed wisely: “Everybody's worried about stop terrorism. Well, there's an actually easy way: Stop participate in it.”

Inflicted Wounds Are Not Forgotten in Camaguey

50 years passed but still the U.S. government goes on giving a green light, encouraging and committing the common acts of terror that have injured the very center of the Cuban people’s soul.    

This dreadful plague has left deepest marks in the families living in Camagüey province. It is still fixed in the memory events such as that occurred on January 5th, 1963, when more than 7 metric tons of rice, a sugar cane field, a school, fertilizer storage and several houses were burned and completely destroyed in Santa Cruz del Sur.

In 1967, a human being was arrested on charges of placing ground glass in the foodstuff of children that focused several schools in the coastal city of Nuevitas, showing no mercy for such little human beings.

In the same year a counterrevolutionary crowd which was trying to penetrate the country and had dedicated terrorist actions to threaten the civilians was finally caught.  

But the example appears not to be sufficient as the mercenaries showed their teeth again in the 90’s. Members of the “Cuba Independent y Democratic” organization were arrested in Camagüey while they were distributing rebellious misinformation, besides they were also damaging the high-voltage power lines in the municipality of Santa Cruz del Sur, 82 km south of the city of Camagüey.

To impede actions of this sort, five exceptional men named Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino, Fernando González, René González and Gerardo Hernández, put aside their individual plans and went to the safe place of the anti-Cuban mafia in Miami to warn their homeland about the terrible plots like those previously mentioned.

Pain is not totally repaired in the families of those who passed away in the bombing of a Cubana aircraft off the coast of Barbados, a physical attack masterminded by confess terrorists Orlando Bosh and Luis Posada Carriles, in which Camagüey province lost two of its daughters Inés Luaces and Milagros Pélaez.

The parents of those children who died in 1980 after being infected by Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF), it has been carried into Cuba by lackeys of imperialism, can also talk about what certainly terrorism means for them.    

It is precisely for the reason that those who live in Camagüey have gone through the sour knowledge of having been struck by state sponsor terrorism, today we can stand on our own feet and demand justice.

U.S. Charges Two Men with Illegal Lobbying for Pakistan

Two Pakistani-American men were charged Tuesday with being on the payroll of Pakistan’s ISI and illegally lobbying the U.S. government over the issue of Kashmir on behalf of Pakistan, according to reports. The men are charged in connection with a front group in the United States that Pakistani intelligence has allegedly operated for 20 years, funneling money to lawmakers and lobbying Congress and the White House.

One of the men charged, Syed Fai, lives in Virginia and was arrested on Tuesday. The other, Zaheer Ahmad, is in Pakistan and is being sought. Fai is the director of the Kashmiri American Council, which the FBI alleges is financed by the Pakistani military to lobby U.S. lawmakers against India’s control over much of Kashmir. The FBI alleges that “Fai and his council received more than $4 million from the Pakistani government since the mid-1990s. The FBI said that in 2009, the council’s projected budget called for $100,000 in contributions to members of Congress,” according to the Wall Street Journal. Ahmad is alleged to have organized contributors to the council in Pakistan, who would then be reimbursed by Pakistan’s military.

The allegations come at a tense moment in U.S.-Pakistan relations, which have deteriorated since the May raid that killed Osama bin Laden and the diplomatic stand-off over the arrest of a CIA contractor in Pakistan earlier this year.

Mapuche Juvenile Processed Under Antiterrorism Law

 On Saturday, April 30th, a Mapuche juvenile (either 16 or 17, depending on the report) was detained and, ultimately, arrested and processed for four crimes under Chile’s Antiterrorism Law. Specifically, the youth was processed for having violated the arson, association (with terrorists), attempted terrorist murder and armed robbery sections of the Antiterrorism Law.

Although the investigation is still pending, the Temuco Court of Appeals met on May 3rd and granted the youth his freedom. This decision upheld what the lower court had granted and came despite arguments from the Chilean prosecutor seeking continued detention as the proceedings continue.

The arrest and processing were controversial for a number of reasons, one of which is because, according to José Venturelli, the European Secretariat of the Ethical Commission Against Torture, the arrest and processing violates the commitments made by the Chilean Government to the Mapuche with respect to terrorism charges. In addition, according to Venturelli, the arrest appears to be in violation of international law.

Thus far, the media coverage of the event has been scarce and this site is aware of no comments made by any Chilean Government officials on this issue at this time.

In addition to being processed under the Antiterrorism Law, there were also allegations made by Jorge Huenchullan — the werken of the community where the arrest took place — of abuse and coercion at the time of the arrest. At the time of this writing, those allegations have neither been corroborated by other witnesses, nor denied by the Chilean Government.

Strengthen of Nigeria Borders

Jonathan said that Nigeria will strengthen its borders with neighbors.

ABUJA—PIQUED by expanding occurrence of trans-border offense and terrorism around Nigeria, President Good luck Jonathan yesterday said that the country would take specific steps to make stronger security cooperation with neighboring countries.

He also added that the move was to check trans-border crime and terrorism in the West African sub-region.He expressed his distress at reports of an attempted revolution in Niger, and said the sub-region would not be familiar with such interference in Niger or anywhere else in West Africa.

Jonathan was speaking to President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger Republic at the opening of bilateral talks between designations of the two nations at State House.Jonathan said that the Terrorism and trans-border crime create a serious security threat to all our countries, so we will strengthen border patrols and other areas of cooperation with our neighbours, to guarantee the safety of our citizens.

On food security for the two countries, the President told President Issoufou that Nigeria had plenty of gas and was going to establish plants to produce fertilizer suitable for the different types of soil in the country, and invited Niger to communicate with significant officials to make sure that appropriate fertilizer was produced for their country.

China to climb anti-terrorism collaboration with Pakistan

To ensure regional peace and stability (IANS) China would step up its anti-terrorism cooperation with Pakistan, Xinhua reported Wednesday.

Foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu told that China and Pakistan have copied tremendous cooperation in anti-terrorism. He added these words while vowing that China will carry on making stronger its collaboration with Pakistan and jointly breaking down on the 'three evil forces' of terrorism, independence and radicalism.

Foreign ministry spokesman praised the achievements of Pakistan that has made so far in fighting terrorism and also said that the country is a significant frontline state in the international fight against violence and has made terrific contributions in the region. 

China blamed the terrorists who trained in Pakistan for an attack in its far-western Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region that killed six people and 15 injured, on Monday. State-run Xinhua news agency confirmed a collection of religious extremists led by 'culprits trained in overseas terrorist camps' were behind the weekend attack on civilians in the Xinjiang region. 

The early investigation has shown that the heads of the group had educated the skills of producing explosives and firearms in overseas camps of the terrorist group 'East Turkistan Islamic Movement' (ETIM) in Pakistan before entering Xinjiang to organize terrorist activities, the government of Kashgar city said in an online statement.