The ambitious rhetoric, political arrogance, policy myopia and lack of the mental gymnastics on Kashmir have crossed limits. All exclusive muscular efforts applied are yielding nothing but a bloody response with minuscule benefits. Even such so called benefits do not come free; the real impact and outcome is much dearer and dangerous in terms of the peoples’ change of heart perhaps forever, loss of lives every day, widespread mass alienation, fear and being anti-Indian trait as a new cultural universal in Kashmir thereby further widening and boosting the enemy perception.

Tackling every bit of the dissent with the muscular policy, iron hand tactics, aided with routine communication blockade and suppression of the masses time and again by force is actually proving disastrous on the ground when it comes to measuring the achievements. The fact of the matter is that there are a plethora of wrong solutions to the real problem-all based on assumptions, vested interests, ego clashes, arm chair expert views and biased and hateful viewpoints. The lack of political will, fulfillment of the actual promise, safer and more efficient conflict tackling, winning hearts, approaching the angry youth, fruitful, sustaining and mandated negotiations, etc, all is missing in the present Kashmir’s conflict resolution process. One wonders if not these, what else can prove as a real remedy to such a monster problem.

Though every encounter with the militants can be termed as a success as per security calculations, as almost every militant trapped is neutralized now but in actual sense it is re-energizing the youth to join the militant ranks which is a reality now. It is serving as a fresh and effective motivation to join the rebel ranks. It gets obvious from the protests of the masses on any militant’s funeral, number of people attending the funeral, routine stone pelting on such incidents, pro freedom (secessionist) slogans and observing shut downs for days together in the valley, which our media houses never analyze in a right perspective, in fact they hide the actual part of the story.

Therefore every encounter actually enriches the secessionist sentiment and the killing success actually turns negative and in turn costly in the long run. Furthermore youth are continuously joining the militant ranks despite knowing that the end may come soon. There are obviously lots of factors associated with this new joining process.

These reasons are not just the glory attached with ‘being a militant’ or heroism as projected by security experts but the unjust situation prevailing in the valley and the mishandling of everything on routine basis even the human dignity. The fact remains almost every youth in south Kashmir, whosoever joined militant ranks has a story of torture or harassment by the forces or by the local police itself. The alienation and mass despair caused by honouring the army personnel who tied a Kashmiri to his jeep and using him as a human shield proved highly intimidating.

After words the statements of applaud by big political shots that whatever the officer did was right definitely alienates the masses further. Such a move further encourages men in uniform to commit such inhuman acts. Also such brazen aberrations now deliberately labeled as heroism are and will prove costly in the valley where peace building is a far cry and perhaps no longer anybody’s serious concern. I fail to understand why aggression and anger is obvious while answering any question on Kashmir and its worst situation today.

Despite grand pronouncements of finding a permanent solution to Kashmir problem, the hazy stance, gut wrenching aberrations, in justice, undemocratic atmosphere, no space for dissent, very much prevails; reflecting that nobody seriously is concerned about Kashmir and its situation today. Now even the local police have become the worst target who are neither trained nor well equipped to deal with such operations. Such a violent atmosphere everywhere in the valley has created a collective sense of insecurity.

Therefore, killing all the militants won’t be a solution but will further aggravates the situation. Government should work to restore the sense of security in peoples’ collective psyche which is the main challenge. There are cases of torture of even women who are being beaten inside their homes during night raids. There are cases of manhandling and sabotage which go unaccounted. The mass anger is brewing up and leading to a more dangerous situation in the valley. Rather than grand pronouncements only, let the nation make a sincere and people friendly approach to Kashmir and resolve all the lingering issues without any ego clashes and display of military might. For media outside the state, I think it is the high time for truth telling rather passing judgments on prime time shows.

This article was first published by South Asia Journal

Subtropical ocean gyres are known to be zones of accumulated floating plastic debris. However, accumulation at the polar latitudes has been less studied. A recently published study extensively sampled the Arctic Ocean for floating debris and uncovered some interesting findings.

EU support to the MICRO B3 project has fed into the research published in ‘Science Advances’. The team found that although pollution sources were distant, and plastic debris absent in most of the Arctic waters surveyed, it reached high concentrations in the farthest northern and eastern areas of the Greenland and Barents seas. The scientists analysed the magnitude, distribution, and sources of the plastic pollution on the surface waters of the Arctic Ocean based on the Tara Oceans 2013 circumpolar expedition. The MICRO B3 (Marine Microbial Biodiversity, Bioinformatics and Biotechnology) project ended in 2015 but the project’s support is acknowledged by Tara Oceans.

During the circumpolar expedition, Andrés Cózar and his colleagues used nets to collect floating plastic debris, including fishing lines and a variety of plastic films, fragments and granules. Hundreds and thousands of pieces of floating debris per square kilometers were identified, the fragmentation and typology of which leads the researchers to conclude the plastic was old and from distant sources. Accounting for its presence the paper states, ‘Surface circulation models and field data showed that the poleward branch of the Thermohaline Circulation (THC) transfers floating debris from the North Atlantic to the Greenland and Barents seas.’

This would be a dead end for what they describe as a ‘plastic conveyor belt’. Worryingly the team believes that, due to the limited surface transport of the plastic and the mechanisms provoking downward transport, the seabed of the Arctic sector concerned could be an important sink of plastic debris.

Although human population north of 60° latitude is low, the paper mentions the circulation model set out by van Sebille and co-workers, which predicts a plastic accumulation zone in the Arctic Polar Circle, especially in the Barents Sea. This sector of the Arctic Ocean plays a key role in the global THC through the formation of deep water by cooling. The researchers explain that as the THC advects warm surface water from low to high latitudes across the North Atlantic Ocean to the Arctic. It could collect buoyant plastic from populated latitudes. Once in Greenland and Barents seas the landmasses and polar caps would trap the debris.

Testing showed that although the Arctic Polar Circle was slightly polluted with plastic debris, in the Greenland and Barents seas debris was both abundant and widespread. The team found that maximum concentrations were lower than in the subtropical accumulation zones but the median values were similar, especially in units of number of items.

‘The total load of floating plastic for the ice-free waters of the Arctic Ocean was estimated to range from around 100 to 1 200 tons, with 400 tons composed of an estimated 300 billion plastic items as a midrange estimate,’ reports the paper. Given the wide range, the researchers say the study needs to be considered as a preliminary, first-order approximation. An increased sampling resolution to reduce the confidence interval associated with the variability in the spatial concentrations of plastic and the effect of the wind-induced vertical mixing is required, they assert.

Cordis Source: Based on project and media reports

Iraqi forces were battling Islamic State on Monday as they push to retake the remaining part of the extremist militia’s former stronghold of Mosul.

Iraqiya state TV reported that Iraqi forces continued their operations in the Old City of Mosul, west of the Tigris River, against Islamic State.

On Sunday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi toured Mosul and congratulated the soldiers “on achieving the big victory.”

The radical group seized Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, in mid-2014.

In October last year, Iraq started a US-backed military campaign to dislodge Islamic State from the city.

In February, Iraqi forces launched an offensive backed by the US to wrest the western section of Mosul from Islamic State, almost a month after they recaptured the eastern part of the city.

The Mosul operation coincides with a US-supported attack by local fighters in neighbouring Syria aimed at expelling Islamic State from its de facto capital of al-Raqqa.

Original source

By Vijay Shankar*

“…the consciousness of being at war, and therefore in danger, makes the handing-over of all power to a small caste seem the natural, unavoidable condition of survival.” — George Orwell, 1984

The Stalin-Churchill Exchange

In 1946, a fustian exchange between Stalin and Churchill was to set the stage for incessant crises in international relations since. On commercialism, Stalin declared “… development of world capitalism does not proceed smoothly and evenly, but through crises and catastrophic wars.” The awkward irony is that an uncertain world fragmented into hostile camps on the brink is today’s reality. Condemning Soviet policies, Churchill professed, “A shadow has fallen upon the scenes so lately lighted by the Allied victory. From Stettin…to Trieste …, an iron curtain has descended across the continent.” The exchange was self-fulfilling as the world knuckled down to an ideological declaration of war. With each passing year, heightened tensions, rise of bigoted and revisionist beliefs marked relationships; to add to it, the disrupting role of non-state actors and nuclear proliferation thrust new elements into the cauldron.

Nuclear Crisis Group

Recognising that peril lay in the inability of formal establishments to monitor potential situations of nuclear conflict and that contemporary nuclear security had introduced dynamics vastly dissimilar to the two-bloc confrontation, a crisis group was formed as a sub-sect of the Global Zero Commission. Its mission is to analyse these predicaments, develop proposals for de-escalation and consult with appropriate agencies to diminish the danger of a nuclear exchange. The Group, an international assemblage of experts from nuclear armed countries and supporters, met for the first time on 5-6 May 2017.

Wink-and-Nod Perils: Proliferation, Non-State Actors, and Orwellian Wars

Dangers of nuclear proliferation and the deranging role of non-state actors accessing nuclear technologies has been well-acknowledged but more often acted upon with a “wink-a facetious rebuke-and-a nod;” this selective look-away has consequences. The imbroglio in US dealings with Pakistan in the Afghan war exemplifies the penalties. Pakistan, an acknowledged dishonest US partner was, the US establishment asserts, “living a lie.” Pakistan’s military played ‘both ends against the middle’. It provides logistic conduits for money; while giving financial, material, intelligence and weapons to the jihadists. Indeed, there have been tactical gains but these pale to insignificance faced by the most conspicuous strategic failure: Pakistan providing sanctuary and sustenance to jihadis. Combat, over the last 16 years (or 38?) in the absence of genuine strategic impetus, has morphed to an ‘Orwellian’ war. And as war rages, Pakistan remains a haven to the highest concentration of terrorist groups while its nuclear fervour advances undiminished.

China has been central to nuclear proliferation in the region and the Pakistani weapons programme; from the blueprint of a nuclear device, through testing, to the AQ Khan enterprise and now to tactical nuclear weapons (TNWs).The reasons for China’s profligate orientation may have originally reflected balance-of-power logic; however, the costs are perilous. Are we living another wink?

In strategic persuasion, Pakistan’s military is convinced that the US’ Afghan withdrawal will leave a devastated warring Afghanistan and an enfeebled insurgency-wracked Pakistan. They envisage a lonely and losing confrontation against the growing economic and military influence of the avowed enemy, India. This had to be countered by persisting with jihadis as the sine qua non of military strategy. While some have suggested that terror organisations may not be under their control, this is denial of the internals of that state where the nexus between the army, intelligence service and jihadists is as old as the state. Unmistakably, the Islamic State (IS) has been seduced into the sub-continent; can the world, China and indeed this Group now be blind to the looming jihadist access to a nuclear arsenal?

Technology Intrusions and the Cyber Dimension

Nuclear weapons have put the world on a razor’s edge, in part because of the powerlessness to control how political events and technology are driving policy. While technology invites covertness; lethality, precision, stealth and time compression that accompany it demand transparency. This is the dilemma faced by planners: to balance the impact of technology with the need for openness. In the cyber domain, transparency will reduce hazards of unintended actions as states prepare to use this arena to manipulate command networks.

The Road to Abolishment

The only way to eliminate the risk of nuclear weapons is through abolition. If this is the leitmotif, the no first use (NFU) posture is its first handmaiden backed by reduced reliance on nuclear weapons and the removal of battle field nuclear weapons and TNWs. This proposition in toto was unanimously welcomed by the NCG.

Flash Points

Nuclear weapons in the hands of terrorists is the biggest global concern. Discriminating between terror groups and making them instruments of state policy had to be rejected collectively. In addition to this overarching perspective, the Group identified four priority geopolitical dynamics that risked escalation to nuclear conflagration: the Korean Peninsula predicament, US/NATO-Russia meltdown in relations, the South Asia conundrum and US-China confrontation.

Korean Peninsula

The NCG aimed for complete denuclearisation through negotiations with North Korea balanced against a calibrated end to US military exercises and provocative deployments in the Republic of Korea and easing of sanctions. China’s role in the North Korean problem had to be leveraged (not only has China fought a war on its behalf but provides existential sustenance).

US, Russia, NATO

Crisis instability between the US, Russia and NATO has taken a dangerous turn, triggered by the Russian nuclear war-fighting doctrine and statements that the US has neither obligation to limit nuclear-arms nor testing. In this circumstance, the impending US nuclear posture review (NPR) will likely cause disquiet given the current turbulence in West Asia, confused war on the IS in Syria, the ‘perpetual’ wars in Iraq and the Af-Pak region, Russia’s annexation of Ukrainian territory, recalcitrant Chinese activities in the South and East China Seas, and increased nuclear activity by North Korea. But the real discounted problem in the entanglement is how to devise measures that will prevent a slide back to the early Cold War era.

South Asian Situation

India has a declared nuclear doctrine; at its heart is NFU and generation of a credible minimum deterrent. India does not differentiate between tactical and strategic nuclear weapons on the grounds that use of nuclear weapons introduces an uncontrollable development. To suggest that ambiguity and first use provide options is to suggest that nuclear war fighting, in conventional terms, is an option. This is denial of the nature of nuclear weapons. With Pakistan there are foundational complications; it has no declared doctrine, while the hold of the ‘deep state’ (the military-intelligence-jihadi combine) on the country is so smothering that dialogue is confounded by the question, “who to dialogue with?” Duplicity and denial on issues related to state support, sanctuary and complicity with terror organisations makes confabulations with civilian government a sterile exercise. Continued collusion with China on nuclear weapons production and proliferation is an area that must be seized; if multilateral constraints are not in place then the probability of these technologies falling into jihadi hands is high.

US-China Relations

US-China relations remain fragile as the latter’s growth and aspirations come in conflict with US’ global influence as is apparent in the sporadic friction that flares in the South and East China seas. China’s revisionist drive in this expanse and its military modernisation plans and policy have not helped to pacify matters. Rather it has increased the probability of escalation. Its surreptitious nuclear proliferatory enterprises have further exacerbated the situation. While China has over the years quite steadfastly adhered to its NFU nuclear policy, it is its support of maverick states such as North Korea and Pakistan that is worrisome.

A Half-Way Conclusion

Fragmentation in geopolitics, rise of bigoted revisionist ideologies, nuclear perfidy of authoritarian dispensations and the end of an overwrought global order make for fragility in nuclear affairs. As states see themselves besieged by forces beyond control, it is timely that the Group has raised its collective voice to temper the idealistic nuclear agenda of abolition with a dose of realism that first charts a course across two pragmatic way points: NFU and removal of tactical nuclear weapons.

* Vijay Shankar
Former Commander-in-Chief, Strategic Forces Command of India

By Rana Banerji*

Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) seems to have gone into overdrive releasing Kulbhushan Jadhav’s second “confession” on 22 June. The main aim was perhaps to strengthen its case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague while tying up glaring loopholes in Jadhav’s previous story. The ISI has blamed India, clubbing other negative consequences which the Pakistani military establishment faces today from hostile terrorists looking inwards. Both confessions were evidently obtained under duress.

In March 2016, having somehow got their hands on a retired Indian naval officer, the Pakistani military establishment saw a golden opportunity to sustain its oft repeated allegations of the Indian hand stoking the long fomenting dissent in Balochistan. With notorious underworld criminal Uzair Baloch singing like a canary, they added for good measure charges of colluding in the sectarian and ethnic violence in Karachi.

Jadhav’s statement acknowledges he had access to services of a defence counsel during the military court proceedings. It notes his appeal before an Appellate Tribunal as well as its rejection. It records Jadhav seeking mercy from Pakistan’s Army Chief under prescribed provisions of the country’s Army Act. Not only are these steps designed to improve Pakistan’s image before the ICJ about ostensible reasonableness of procedural safeguards, but they prepare the ground for his summary execution, if it is eventually decided to cock a snook at a possible adverse verdict from the ICJ later on.

As questions had arisen earlier as to why a ‘spy’ on a clandestine mission in a hostile country would be carrying identification documents with him, this time Jadhav ‘elaborates’ on how he took his passports with him only to ward off possible apprehension by suspicious Iranian officials (!) while proceeding towards the Sarawan border on the Iranian side. He admits travelling by ‘a private taxi’, along with an Indian named ‘Rakesh’. Rakesh’s fate is unclear.

Jadhav admits his aim was to ‘organize all activities around Makran coast, Karachi, and interior areas of Balochistan’. He claims that there were plans to raise ‘a sea front’, from where 30-40 R&AW operatives would be infiltrated to help Baloch sub-nationals to carry out precision targets. This would help ‘distort and disrupt’ various activities under ‘OPEC’ (should have read ‘CPEC’ – for China Pakistan Economic Corridor).

According to Jadhav, Baloch ‘sub-nationals’ were being generously funded through ‘Hundi and Hawala’ operations from New Delhi and Mumbai. In particular, he claims awareness of a specific hawala transaction of USD$ 40,000/- via Dubai. He says Indian consulates in Jalalabad and Kandahar in Afghanistan were involved in these hawala transactions.

Jadhav is tutored to conveniently lay at R&AW’s door the killing of Hazaras travelling to and from Iran. It is well-known that attacks on Quetta’s Hazaras and other Shia pilgrims travelling to Iran have been the handiwork of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) militants acting on the bidding and instigation of ISI, if only to divert attention from the simmering Baloch nationalist struggle. Iran remains extremely concerned about disruptive trans-border activities of Sunni militant groups like Jaish-al-Adl from the Pakistan side. When these attacks got out of hand and Iran protested, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Punjab (Pakistan), Mushtaq Sukhera, known to have sympathetic access to ISI aided ‘non-State elements’ in Bahawalpur and Multan, was sent as IGP to Quetta to try and quell activities of LeJ and Jaish-al-Adl. Iran again warned Pakistan recently to desist from supporting such activities.

Jadhav is made to admit planning an attack on the Pakistani consulate in Zahidan, ‘through R&AW officials’ in Iran. This charge strains credulity. Any well informed security analyst would be aware how tenuous India’s presence remains at its consulate in Zahidan, or for that matter, in its consulates in Jalalabad and Kandahar in Afghanistan. Mere survival and maintaining a presence is of essence in these difficult posts. Security of consulate staff is dependent on effective liaison and goodwill of host governments at these stations. Iranian counter-intelligence agents almost succeeded in penetrating India’s Zahidan consulate a few years back. This attempt was nipped in the bud. To have even entertained thoughts of planning ‘a military style attack on the Pakistani consulate’ there in this ambience would have been quite foolhardy for even the most ‘adventurous’ R&AW operative.

Involvement in financing of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) operatives for the Mehran naval base attacks is an even more absurd claim. Given the primacy of the need to know’ principle in intelligence operations, even if Jadhav had been entrusted the claimed tasks in Balochistan, he could never have known about what was allegedly being planned through TTP agents from Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) or Afghanistan. No sensible intelligence agency would put all its eggs in one basket, clubbing anti-Pakistan operations in Balochistan with those allegedly being done through TTP in FATA and from Afghanistan. The ISI itself was perhaps aware of treading on ‘thin ice’ while making this connection, as they later got the “surrendered” TTP spokesperson, Ehsanullah Ehsan to separately (and independently of Jadhav) make the R&AW collusion /instigation charge. His recorded ‘confession’ before Geo TV’s Saleem Safi drew adverse comment from observers in Pakistan, who lamented the ISI ‘shooting itself in its own feet’.

If Jadhav’s dhow, Kaminda, was to be the hub of these activities and if R&AW had endorsed his plans, the address of his pseudonym, ‘Hussain Mubarak Patel’ in the passport could never have been traceable back to his mother’s flat in Mumbai. Jadhav’s repeated references to “Anil Kumar,” or “Anil Gupta” (earlier), as the R&AW operative who tasked him, is an obvious attempt by ISI to extract mileage from the possibility that these nom de plumes were being used by Anil Dhasmana, the current chief of R&AW. The ISI seems to overlook that the Jadhav arrest took place, by its own reckoning, sometime in March, 2016 when Dhasmana had not yet succeeded Rajinder Khanna in the R&AW top job. If Jadhav had actually been R&AW’s man, even by India’s somewhat lax accountability standards, the operational lapse would have been laid at Dhasmana’s door.

Clubbing a reference to a ‘R&AW operated’ website in Nepal in Jadhav’s confession reflects the ISI’s desperation. They apparently believe that the abduction of Pakistan’s Col (Retd) Muhd Habib Zahir from Lumbini happened as a R&AW operation. Again, there is no way Jadhav could have known about such a website or the abduction, unless tutored by the ISI.

Pakistan’s rushed ‘second Jadhav confession’ could have been brought on by the need to show India in adverse light on the eve of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US. The resounding references on support to cross-border terrorism from Pakistan in the joint statement by Prime Minister Modi and US President Donald Trump would indicate that this stratagem did not yield any dividends.

In effect, while pursuing diverse objectives, the ISI seems to have tied itself hopelessly into knots of its own making. Even as bemused observers in India and the international security establishment look on, it will remain imperative for India’s legal hawks to expose these revelations for what they are worth in proceedings before the ICJ in the months ahead.

* Rana Banerji
Member, Governing Council, IPCS, & former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen recently predicted that, thanks to the regulations implemented after the 2008 market meltdown, America would not experience another economic crisis “in our lifetimes.” Yellen’s statement should send shivers down our spines, as there are few more reliable signals of an impending recession, or worse, than when so-called “experts” proclaim that we are in an era of unending prosperity.

For instance, in the years leading up to the 2008 market meltdown, then-Fed Chair Ben Bernanke repeatedly denied the existence of a housing bubble. In February 2007, Bernanke not only denied that “sluggishness” in the housing market would affect the general economy, but predicted that the economy would expand in 2007 and 2008. Of course, instead of years of economic growth, 2007 and 2008 were marked by a market meltdown whose effects are still being felt.

Yellen’s happy talk ignores a number of signs that the economy is on the verge of another crisis. In recent months, the US has experienced a decline in economic growth and the value of the dollar. The only economic statistic showing a positive trend is the unemployment rate — and that is only because the official unemployment rate does not count those who have given up looking for work. The real unemployment rate is at least 50 percent higher than the manipulated “official” rate.

A recent Treasury Department report’s called for rolling back of bank regulations could further destabilize the economy. This seems counterintuitive, as rolling back regulations usually contributes to economic growth. However, rolling back bank regulations without ending subsidies like deposit insurance that create a moral hazard that incentivizes banks to engage in risky business practices could cause banks to resume the unsound lending practices that were a major contributor to the growth, and collapse, of the housing bubble.

The US economy is already faced with several bubbles that could implode at any time. These include bubbles in student loans and automobiles sales, and even another housing bubble. The most dangerous of these bubbles is the government bubble caused by excessive spending. According to a 2016 study by the Mercatus Center, at least four states could soon join Puerto Rico and Illinois in facing bankruptcy.

Of course, the mother of all government bubbles is the federal spending bubble. Despite claims of both defenders and critics of the president’s budget, neither President Trump nor the Republican Congress have any plans for, or interest in, reducing spending in any area. Even the so-called cuts in Medicare and other entitlement programs that have generated such hysterics are not real cuts, but “reductions in the rate of growth.”

Some fiscal conservatives are praising the administration’s proposal to finance transportation spending via government bonds. However, the people will eventually have to pay for these bonds either directly through income taxes or indirectly through the inflation tax. Government-issued bonds harm the economy by diverting investment capital away from the private sector to the “mixed economy” controlled by politicians, bureaucrats, and crony capitalists.

If Congress continues to increase spending and the Federal Reserve continues to facilitate that spending by monetizing the debt, Americans will face an economic crisis more severe than the Great Depression. The crisis will likely result from a rejection of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. Those of us who know the truth must redouble our efforts to ensure a peaceful transition away from the Keynesian system of welfare, warfare, and fiat currency to a society of peace, prosperity, and liberty.

This article was published by RonPaul Institute.

Sri Lanka’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Ravi Karunanayake paid a visit to the State of Qatar during July 8-9.

During his visit to Doha, the minister met Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, Emir of the State of Qatar.

The meeting reviewed bilateral relations of cooperation between the two countries and means of enhancing and promoting them in all fields.

During his visit, minister Karunanayake also met Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Interior and Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar.

The head of the Qatar Committee for the Reconstruction of Gaza HE Ambassador Mohammed Al Emadi signed Monday a project to renovate 600 houses for poor families in the Gaza Strip at a total cost of $3 million.

Al-Emadi said during the signing ceremony of the project in Gaza under the slogan “a decent home” to renovate the houses of poor families in the Gaza Strip that Qatar continues to support the Palestinian people to alleviate their suffering despite the “unjust” siege imposed on it. He asserted that Qatar’s support for the Gaza Strip “will not be affected” by the siege measures announced by several Arab countries on June 5.

The ceremony included the distribution of financial checks to the families benefiting from the project including 127 families as a first stage at a cost of one million dollars, to be followed by a second and third phases to cover 600 families.

Palestinian Undersecretary of the Ministry of Public Works and Housing Naji Sarhan praised the efforts of the State of Qatar in supporting the Palestinian people and alleviating their suffering under the harsh siege imposed on the Gaza Strip for the eleventh year in a row.

Sarhan noted that the selection of poor families was based on lists submitted by the Ministry of Public Works and Housing to the Qatari Committee according to the need of these families to help and renovate their homes. In addition, these families were selected after being examined by engineers from the Ministry and the Qatari Committee to select the target of some 700 families.

He pointed out that the duration of the first phase will be within 3 months depends on the speed of completion.

Qatar Committee for the Reconstruction of Gaza is carrying out dozens of vital and important projects in the Gaza Strip.

By Ajit Kumar Singh*

At least three Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) terrorists were killed during a 30-hour long encounter in the Bamnoo area of Pulwama District. The encounter began in the morning of July 3, 2017, when the Security Forces (SFs), who had launched a search operation following a specific tip-off about the presence of terrorists in the area, were attacked by the armed group inside a house. Two terrorists were killed on the same day, while another was killed in the morning of July 4. Four SF personnel sustained injuries.

On July 1, 2017, Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT)’s Anantnag ‘district commander’ Bashir Ahmad Wani aka Bashir Lashkar and one of his associates, identified as Azad Ahmad Malik aka Dada, were killed in an encounter in the Brenti-Batpora area of Anantnag District. The encounter ensued when SFs after receiving information about the presence of terrorists in the area were attacked by the terrorists hiding inside a house. Bashir, according to media reports, figured in a list of 12 ‘most wanted terrorists’ in the state released by the Indian Army on May 30, 2017. Two civilians, including a woman, were also killed during the exchange of fire.

On June 25, 2017, two LeT terrorists were killed in an encounter that broke out between terrorists and SFs in the Delhi Public School building at Pantha Chowk in Srinagar. The terrorists were hiding inside the school building after carrying out an attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) vehicle at the gate of the school, killing one trooper and injuring two in the evening of June 24. The slain terrorists were identified as Abu Tala and Abu Hurraira, both Pakistanis. Two AK rifles, one Underbarrel Grenade Launchers (UBGL), two grenades and six AK-magazines were recovered from their possession. At least three Army soldiers were injured during the operation inside the building.

According to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), at least 95 terrorists have been killed in the State since the beginning of the current year (data till July 9, 2017). During the corresponding period of the previous year, SFs had eliminated at least 81 terrorists. The number of slain terrorists during the corresponding periods of 2015, 2014, and 2013 stood at 44, 48 and 31 respectively. [Year 2013 has been taken as starting point for analysis because, after recording a continuous decline in overall terrorism-related fatalities since 2002, a reversal in this trend commenced in 2013]. Significantly, total terrorist fatalities through 2013, 2014, and 2015, stood at 100, 110, and 113, respectively, just over the numbers killed in the first six months and a week of the current year.

The number of SF personnel killed in the current year, thus far, stands at 40, as against 30 during the corresponding period of 2016. The number of SF personnel killed during the corresponding periods of 2015, 2014, and 2013 was 22, 16, and 31, respectively. Despite the larger loss of SF lives, the fatalities ratio between SF personnel and terrorists has been maintained at comparable levels: 1:2.3 (2017), 1: 2.7 (2016), 1: 2 (2015), and 1:3 (2014). In the corresponding period of 2013, the kill ratio was at par 1:1.

Meanwhile, at least 30 civilians have already died in the current year, as against five killed during the corresponding period of 2016. The number of civilians killed during the corresponding periods of 2013, 2014, and 2015, were 12, 10, and 12, respectively. Further dissection of the data reveals that, out of a total of 30 civilians killed in the current year, thus far; at least 13 were killed during exchanges of fire between terrorists and SFs. The number of civilians killed in such incidents was one, nil, four, and one, respectively, in the corresponding periods of 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. The high number of civilians killed in cross fire in the current year is a disturbing development, and has often resulted from the assembly of violent crowds engaging in stone pelting against SFs, in support of beleaguered terrorists at various locations. SFs are now focusing on a range of measure to secure and segregate encounter sites to prevent public access or supporting action by radicalized crowds.

There have been 168 terrorism-related incidents in 2017 (data till July 2, 2017), as compared to 126 in the corresponding period of 2016, according to a media report. Incidents of explosion and resultant fatalities have increased from 14 and none in 2016 (data till July 9, 2016) to 24 and five respectively in 2017 (till July 9, 2017). Though the number of suicide attacks remained the same – one each in both the years, during corresponding periods, the resultant fatalities in these incidents declined from 10 in 2016 to five in 2017.

These numbers clearly suggest that, though the trends to declining violence have been reversed in the State over the past few years, the current security situation in the State, while disturbing, is far from alarming. Attempts by a section of the media and some ‘experts’ to create an atmosphere of panic are based on ignorance or deliberate deceit.

There are, in fact, indicators that, with stronger SF action, a measure of stability is being restored, despite some big SF losses in the aftermath of the killing of HM ‘commander’ Burhan Wani on July 8, 2016. While SFs had imposed a kill ratio of 1:1.48 during the first six months after the killing of Burhan Wani (between July 9, 2016, and January 9, 2017) this ratio improved significantly in the following six months, at 1:2.3.

Crucially, orchestrated street violence – backed by Pakistan-based terrorist formations and covert Pakistani support – subsequent to the Burhan Wani killing, which had created an environment of disorder and panic, is rapidly subsiding. According to reports, there have been 142 ‘law and order incidents’ in 2017 (till June 30). In July 2016 alone, there were 820 such incidents. On December 19, 2016, the then Director General of Police (Law and Order) Shesh Pal Vaid had disclosed that a total of 2,380 ‘law and order incidents’ had been reported during the ‘Kashmir unrest’, commencing July 8, 2016. Of these, at least 820 incidents were reported in July, declining to 747 in August, 535 in September, 179 in October, 73 in November and just 25 during the first 19 days of December. According to SATP, there were another two incidents of street violence thereafter, in 2016.

Nevertheless, flawed policies and the abject failure of the state in controlling the spiraling violence in the initial stages after the Burhan Wani killing created ample opportunities for inimical forces to broaden radical and extremist mobilization and violence, with a spurt in terrorist recruitment. 88 locals reportedly joined terrorism in 2016, mostly after the killing of Burhan Wani, and another 27 are believed to have already joined terrorist ranks in 2017 (till July 3, 2017).

Governments – both at the state and central level – appear to have started initiating some corrective measures. State Director General of Police Shesh Pal Vaid (who took charge on January 1, 2017) stated on February 14, 2017, that a “course correction” was already underway. Though he refused to divulge any details, asserting that any discussion of the issue would be premature, he admitted, “We are reaching out to the parents and requesting them to convince their children to shun the path of violence. In a few cases, we have achieved success also.” Meanwhile, on July 3, 2017, an unnamed Police spokesman disclosed, “As many as 54 youth have been arrested from different Districts of Kashmir over the past few months. The arrests foiled their attempts to join militancy, thereby saving 54 families getting adversely affected by the militancy. ”

Further, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA) has reportedly come up with a three-fold plan to eradicate terrorism in the State: launch of an offensive on terrorists, keeping tabs on journalists and writers who inflame the situation, and tightening the grip on separatists. According to sources, the Centre may ask Governor N.N. Vohra to directly oversee the combat operations. Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, who also holds home portfolio and heads the unified headquarters of security agencies, including the Army, will be kept in the loop only when the agencies take on terrorists in an encounter.

Though SFs have once again managed to contain the consequences of irresponsible politics and administrative failure in Kashmir, threats persists. This tragic cycle has been seen again and again, with SFs establishing dominance and a measure of control at great cost and through tremendous sacrifices, only to see these gains frittered away by political adventurism, incompetence or sheer mischief.

* Ajit Kumar Singh
Research Fellow, Institute for Conflict Managemen

By Giriraj Bhattacharjee*

The Union Government is considering the partial removal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA)-1958 from the States of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. Media reports cited an unnamed Ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA) official as stating, “The notification extending AFSPA in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh is issued for six months after a review twice a year. We have reduced this duration to three months and see if it could be withdrawn completely from certain areas. For the time being, the proposal is only for the two States but we are also looking for a similar solution in Manipur.”

The development can be seen in the context of continuous improvement in the security situation in India’s North Eastern Region (NER). According to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), NER has recorded over 21,514 insurgency-linked fatalities (10,272 civilians, 2,473 Security Force (SF) personnel and 8,499 militants) since 1992. By 2016, however, the combined annual fatalities for all the States in the region stood at 160 (61 civilians, 17 SF personnel and 82 militants), as against 273 such fatalities (62 civilians, 49 SF personnel, 162 militants) in 2015. Significantly, this was the lowest figure for overall in the region since 1992. In 2017, the region has, so far, seen 67 insurgency-related fatalities (22 civilians, nine SF personnel, 36 militants, data till July 2, 2017).

India’s NER covers 3,287,263 square kilometers, 7.98 per cent of the country’s landmass. It comprises eight States: Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, and Tripura. NER shares India’s international boundaries with Bangladesh, China, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar. With the exception of Sikkim, all other States have a history of violent insurgencies of varying proportion.

Among various factors contributing to the present improvement in the situation, the most prominent is the ongoing peace talks with several insurgent formations. It is pertinent to recall, however, that these peace talks were preceded by sustained and successful counter insurgency (CI) operations against these groups. These operations were backed by generous surrender-cum-rehabilitation policies, losses of ‘safe havens’ in Bhutan and Bangladesh, the death, arrest or surrender of top insurgent leaders, fatigue and disillusionment with violence, and loss of the limited popular support and legitimacy that many insurgent groups had in the past.

According to the SATP database, at least 158 insurgent groups operated in the region at one point or the other. Currently, however, the total number of proscribed militant formations in the region stands at a modest 13: Assam (3), Manipur (6), Meghalaya (1), Nagaland (1), and Tripura (2). Apart from these, there are 23 active militant groups operating in NER: Assam (4), Manipur (6), Meghalaya (7), Nagaland (4), and Arunachal Pradesh (2). Mizoram and Sikkim have no proscribed or active militant groups. Thus, a total of 36 out of 158 insurgent formations are still operational. The Government is, however, in talks with one of the proscribed groups, the Tripura based Biswamohan Debbarma faction of the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT-BM).

Of the remaining 122 outfits which are neither active nor proscribed, 82 have become defunct. The Union Government and State Government have, meanwhile, entered into dialogue with 40 of the remaining groups, which are willing to abjure the path of violence and pursue their demands within the framework of the Indian Constitution. The status of talks with various insurgent formations is:

The Human Rights Council

Assam units of Hmar People’s Conference-Democratic (HPC-D), Kuki Liberation Army (KLA), Kuki Revolutionary Army (KRA), and United Kukigram Defence Army (UKDA), surrendered on January 24, 2012. All these groups are in dialogue with the Government.

Five Assam based Adivasi (tribal groups from Central India brought in as indentured workers in the Tea gardens during British rule) insurgent outfits – Adivasi People’s Army (APA), All Adivasi National Liberation Army (AANLA), Santhal Tiger Force (STF), Birsa Commando Force (BCF) and the Adivasi Cobra Military of Assam (ACMA) – are negotiating under the banner of Adivasi National Convention Committee (ANCC). They all surrendered on January 24, 2012.

Assam based Karbi Longri NC Hills Liberation Front (KLNLF) is under a Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement with the Government of Assam since February 11, 2010. The SoO agreement was valid upto June 30, 2017. No further open source information is available on the current status.

On an unspecified date, the SoO agreement with Assam based Pro-Talks Faction of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB-PTF) and NDFB-Ranjan Daimairy (NDFB-RD) was extended for another six months. The SoO with both these outfits was valid till June 30, 2017. No further information is available in the open media. The undivided NDFB [later NDFB-PTF] first signed the SoO agreement on June 1, 2005. Similarly, NDFB-Ranjan Daimairy (NDFB-RD), an NDFB splinter, signed the SoO agreement on November 29, 2013.

A SoO agreement was signed with the Pro-Talks faction of the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA-PTF) on September 3, 2011, and is continuing indefinitely. However, talks between the Centre and ULFA-PTF were on hold for a while due to the impending Supreme Court judgment on petitions seeking 1951 as the cut-off year for citizenship of people residing in Assam, instead of 1971 as per the Assam Accord of 1985. The last meeting was held on June 8, 2017, after retired Intelligence Bureau Director Dineshwar Sharma was appointed as an interlocutor.

The Mizoram unit of HPC-D is involved in peace talks with the Mizoram Government. The upcoming fifth round of peace talks between the State Government and HPC-D militants is scheduled to be held sometime in July 2017 and is likely to be elevated to the political level.

The Manipur based United Progressive Front (UPF), a conglomeration of eight outfits (that also included HPC-D and KLO), and the Kuki National Organisation (KNO), a conglomeration of 15 outfits, (that also includes KRA) are currently under SoO with the Government. The SoO agreement with UPF was valid up to June 8, 2017. No further information is available in the open media. SoO agreement with KNO exists since August 2008 and is valid up to July 21, 2017. Political dialogue with both these grouping commenced on June 15, 2016.

The periodic extension of SoO was done away with in the case of the Nagaland based National Socialist Council of Nagaland – Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM) which had signed the Agreement on July 25, 1997, and which came into effect on August 1, 1997. A Framework Agreement, outlining the fundamentals of the eventual settlement of issues, was signed with NSCN-IM on August 3, 2015. Union Further, on April 18, 2017, the Union Government disclosed that ‘a ceasefire is in operation’ between itself and another two National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) factions based in Nagaland – NSCN-Neopao Konyak-Kitovi (NSCN-NK) and NSCN-Reformation (NSCN-R) – and had been extended up to April 27, 2018. NSCN-NK entered into the ceasefire agreement on April 27, 2012, and NSCN-R on April 27, 2015.

For the Assam and Nagaland insurgent groups, interlocutors have been appointed by the Union Government. On February 2, 2017, former Director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), Dineshwar Sharma, was appointed as the new interlocutor for talks with the insurgent groups of Assam, taking over from P.C. Haldar, another former IB Director, who served till December 31, 2016. Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) Chairman R.N. Ravi was appointed as the interlocutor for talks with NSCN-IM on August 29, 2014. In other instances, State Government officials along with officials from UMHA were engaged in deliberations.

However, the system of prolonged talks along with poor mechanisms for rehabilitation and poor oversight over the implementation of ground rules have been responsible for many instances of deviance. Indeed, some of these groups under various ceasefire/SoO agreements continued to engage in abduction, extortion and killing, and thus continued to constitute an ongoing security challenge. On June 18, 2017, for instance, Assam’s Additional Director General of Police (ADGP-Special Branch) Pallab Bhattacharya disclosed, “Recently we arrested seven person engaged in decoity case. These person were surrender cadres of NDFB”.

Similarly, news reports indicate that on June 12, 2017, the newly elected Manipur Government had raised the issue of SoO violations with the Union Government. A source close to the Chief Minister was reported to have state, “The Chief Minister will raise the issue of ground rules violations by the cadres of militant groups that have tripartite Suspension of Operation agreement with the State and the Centre.” Chief Minister Biren Singh had earlier, on May 20, 2017, criticized the SoO, observing, “It is like having no government at all. There is no meaning of the truce. There is no seriousness in the dialogue with armed groups.”

Across Nagaland, moreover, NSCN-IM and other factions systematically violate ground rules, run a parallel administration, impose ‘taxes’ (extortion) on the public, and engage in continuous and fratricidal turf wars.

The active and proscribed groups, moreover, continue to throw up challenges. The most prominent among these is the Khaplang faction of NSCN (NSCN-K). NSCN-K’s Myanmar based leadership had on March 27, 2015, unilaterally abrogated a ceasefire that had endured since April 2001. Subsequently, the Union Government also called off its agreement with NSCN-K through a statement released on April 28, 2015. NSCN-K had signed the ceasefire agreement with the Central Government on April 28, 2001, and this had since been extended annually.

Other militant formations such as the Saoraigwra faction of NDFB (NDFB-Saoraigwra) [earlier known as NDFB-IKS], the Independent faction of ULFA (ULFA-I), Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO), Karbi People’s Liberation Tigers (KPLT), United People’s Liberation Army (UPLA), Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), Helem Tiger Force (HTF), National Santhal Liberation Army (NSLA), Liberation of Achik Elite Force (LAEF), Achick Songa An’pachakgipa Kotok (ASAK), Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA), Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) Manipur Naga Revolutionary Front (MNRF), Zeliangrong United Front (ZUF) and the newly formed People’s Democratic Council of Karbi-Longri (PDCK), remain outside the purview of peace talks. Further, there are two umbrella militant organisations in the Northeast – both operating out of Myanmar – continue to engage in violence, particularly attacks against SFs. The United Liberation Front of Western South East Asia (UNLFWESA) is a united front of rebel groups such as the NSCN-K, ULFA-I, NDFB-Saoraigwra, KLO, PDCK. The other is Coordination Committee (CorCom), which comprises some insurgent groups of Manipur. The activities of these groups operating across the Indo-Myanmar border have raised concerns within Security agencies .

The very significant improvements in the security situation in India’s Northeast need a vigorous effort of political consolidation. Taking peace talks with various militant groups under ceasefire and SoO agreements forward in a time bound manner is one critical avenue of progress, absent which frustration, ongoing or escalating criminality, splits and internecine clashes can only mount, making a mockery of various ground rules established under the various transient agreements. At the same time, sustained counterinsurgency operations against those groups that remain outside the talks are an imperative.

*Giriraj Bhattacharjee
Research Assistant, Institute for Conflict Management

Britain’s High Court ruled on Monday that UK arms exports to Saudi Arabia are not unlawful, after campaigners argued the weapons were used to violate international humanitarian law in bombing Yemen.

“We have concluded that the material decisions of the secretary of state were lawful. We therefore dismiss the claim,” Lord Justice Burnett said at the court in London.

He added it was not established that there was “a clear risk that the items might be used in the commission of a serious violation of international humanitarian law.”

Half the evidence presented in the case was heard in secret after the government argued it could not be heard in public for national security reasons.

Campaign Against Arms Trade, the non-profit organization behind the legal challenge, said that they are pursuing an appeal.

For the past two years, Yemen has been plunged into a civil war between Shiite Houthi rebels and government forces backed by a Saudi-led Arab military coalition.

Saudi Arabia is Britain’s largest trading partner in the Middle East, with exports of more than £6.5 billion ($8.4 billion) in British goods and services to the country in 2015.

By Elise Harris and Hannah Brockhaus

During his 22 years as spokesman for St. John Paul II, Dr. Joaquin Navarro-Valls became somewhat of a legend in the Vatican – not only for his keen professional abilities and insight into the Pope’s mind, but also for his genuine kindness and deep spiritual life.

In a word, most who knew the late Spanish layman, who died earlier this week, have referred to him as a “gentleman” who was elegant, professional, kind and incredibly savvy.

Fr. John Wauck, a longtime friend of Navarro-Valls, described him as “an old-school gentleman and a consummate professional – capable, discreet, committed, loyal.”

Likewise, Greg Burke, current Director of the Holy See Press Office, said after announcing news of Navarro’s passing on Twitter that “Joaquin Navarro embodied what Ernest Hemingway defined as courage: grace under pressure.”

Burke said that he had met Navarro-Valls while working as a correspondent for Time Magazine the same year that the publication had named St. John Paul II “Man of the Year.”

In dealing with the Pope’s spokesman, Burke said “I expected to find a man of faith, but I found a man of faith who was also a first class professional” that was already well known and respected by his peers in the communications world.

“I didn’t always agree with Navarro, but he always behaved like a Christian gentlemen – and those can be hard to find these days,” Burke said.

Navarro-Valls was born in Cartagena, Spain in 1936. He studied medicine at the Universities in Granada and Barcelona, and worked as a professional psychiatrist and teaching medicine before obtaining degrees in journalism and communications.

He joined Opus Dei after meeting its founder St. Josemaria Escriva, continuing to collaborate with the founder in Rome, where he moved in 1970.

In Rome he was a correspondent for the Spanish newspaper ABC and was twice elected president of the Rome-based Foreign Press Association in Italy.

He was the first lay journalist to hold the position of Director of the Vatican Press Office, which he was appointed to by Pope St. John Paul II in 1984. He served through the Pope’s death and two years into the pontificate of Benedict XVI before retiring in 2006.

After, he served as president of the advisory board of the Opus Dei-affiliated Campus Biomedical University in Rome until his death.

In his tenure at the Vatican Press Office spanning more than two decades, Navarro-Valls helped to modernize Vatican communications, especially as technology advanced. As Burke said, “he lived through the fax to the age of the internet.”

In 1992, he used $2 million to equip the press office with up-to-date technology and to modernize the facilities. He also streamlined the distribution of materials by making archives, documents and the Pope’s activities accessible online.

He died in Rome July 5 surrounded by fellow members of Opus Dei after battling terminal cancer. His funeral was held Friday, July 7 at 11a.m. at the basilica of Sant’Eugenio, and was celebrated by the Vicar General of Opus Dei, Bishop Mariano Fazio.

Mario Biasetti, a journalist under the last five popes and a friend and colleague of Navarro-Valls, said he was a professional journalist, and it showed in everything he did.

Even when a colleague or a journalist would ask him a tough question, “it didn’t faze him,” Biasetti said. “He would tell you exactly what happened, but he would do it with a smile.”

“Joachin Navarro was a very well thought of man all-around. He had no difficulty to speak with anybody, whether officially or not officially.”

Biasetti traveled on many papal trips with John Paul II, and Navarro was always there and always by his side, he said. He was also always willing to pitch in and “always came through” for journalists with whatever they needed.

For Burke, one of the key things that stood out about Navarro-Valls is that he was someone who would work “shoulder-to-shoulder with the rest of us,” who “knew the world” and was good with languages.

Burke noted that before coming to the Vatican, Navarro worked as a correspondent, “and his colleagues from around the globe clearly recognized his merits, electing him President of the Stampa Estera in Rome.”

“I remember watching Navarro closely during the U.N. Population Conference in Cairo – one of the best examples of what Pope Francis calls ideological colonization. It was fascinating to see someone who was defending the faith, but he wasn’t on the defensive. He was leading the fight.”

Asked about what, if any, advice he had given Burke on doing the job, the spokesman said the advice he got “was more personal than professional, such as ‘don’t neglect your interior life, and make sure you pray – you’ll need it in this job.’”

This attention to the spiritual life is something that was also obvious to others who worked with Navarro. In Biasetti’s words, the Spaniard “was a journalist, yes, but he was also a churchman.”

Fr. Wauck, a professor of the Institutional Church Communications faculty at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome and a fellow member of Opus Dei, recalled that this spiritual dynamic was evident even in Navarro’s work.

The priest said that when he thinks of Navarro, the first thing that comes to mind is “the conversion of the Time magazine reporter Wilton Wynn,” a well-known old-time reporter in the Middle East and Rome during John Paul II’s pontificate.

“Naturally, it was the vibrant Christian example of the Pope that attracted Wilton to the faith, but his long friendship with Navarro-Valls played a key part as well,” Wauck said, adding that Navarro-Valls “maintained an affectionate concern for Wilton’s spiritual well-being for the rest of his life.”

Another memory the priest recalled is “a small act of kindness” that took place over the summer some 15 years ago.

Fr. Wauck said that he had mentioned, in passing, in front of Navarro, that he had broken his swimming goggles. “The next day, I found a new pair on my desk, and they were much better than the ones I’d broken.”

Fr. Federico Lombardi, Navarro-Valls’ immediate successor as Director of the Holy See Press Office, also reflected on his relationship with his late predecessor, calling to mind Navarro’s character and impact on Vatican communications.

Lombardi recalled meeting Navarro after coming to Rome in 1991 to take on the role as Director of Programming for Vatican Radio.

After meeting and working alongside the Spaniard, particularly when the Pope traveled abroad, it immediately became clear that he was “a stable and important component” of the papal entourage, “but also likeable, friendly and cordial,” Lombardi said.

“Naturally I already knew him for his fame as a brilliant and competent ‘spokesman’ for the Pope,” he said, noting that the official title for someone in Navarro’s position is “Director of the Holy See Press Office.”

However, in the case of Navarro-Valls, spokesman “was an entirely appropriate name.”

Even if this wasn’t the official description of his duty – which was rather “Director of the Press Office” – it must be said that in his case it was an entirely appropriate name given the close relationship he had with John Paul II.

According to Lombardi, it was Navarro himself who often stressed that it was “absolutely necessary to have – and to indeed have – a direct relationship with the Pope, in order to know his thinking and line of thought with surety and clarity, and to be able to present himself to the world, to the Press Office and to public opinion as an authoritative interpreter of that thought, and not just hearsay.”

Throughout Navarro’s lengthy tenure working in the Vatican, there was absolutely “no doubt” that “he was very close to the Pope, so close that he must be considered one of the most important figures of that extraordinary pontificate.”

This, Lombardi said, is “not only because of his evident public visibility, but also for his role as intervention and advice. Certainly John Paul II had great confidence in him and held his service in high esteem.”

Burke, who is Lombardi’s successor as Director of the Holy See Press Office, referred to this relationship when he announced Navarro’s passing, posting a photo of him standing next to John Paul II with a big smile.

“I tweeted out a photo of Navarro-Valls and John Paul II smiling together, saying ‘Navarro, keep smiling.’ But I actually took that quote from John Paul II,” he said.

It was after a meeting between the Pope and the editors of Time Magazine, Burke explained. Navarro was standing off to the side a little, but smiling, happy with how things had gone and Pope St. John Paul II, noticing, said to him in English: “keep smiling.”

“You could tell that they had a very, very good relationship,” he said.

When it came to Navarro’s professional abilities, Lombardi said that at U.N. conferences the Spaniard would end up playing a primary and even diplomatic role, thanks to his “experience and communicative ability.”

“His intelligence, elegance and relational abilities were prominent. To that is added a great knowledge of languages and a true genius in presenting news and information content in a brilliant, attractive and concise way,” Lombardi said.

These are all gifts that made Navarro “an ideal person as a point of reference in the Vatican for the international information providers, but also for relations” with people in the public, communications and political spheres.

As both a layman and a consecrated member of Opus Dei, Navarro could be counted on as a competent and respected professional, but also as someone “whose dedication and faithful love of the Church could really be counted on, for the effective availability of both time and heart.”

For Lombardi, the lengthy duration of Navarro’s service as Director of the Press Office, his authoritativeness, efficiency and the quality of his work make his tenure “an age that will likely remain unique in the history of the Press Office and of Vatican communications.”

“Certainly, the dimension of communications and public relations in the immense pontificate of John Paul II cannot in any way be independent of Dr. Navarro’s work and personality,” he said. “It was an invaluable service to the Church.”

Lombardi voiced his gratitude to Navarro, specifically for the “courtesy and attention” he showed during the time they worked together.

“I always considered him a teacher in the way of carrying out his service and I never would have imagined to be called to succeed him,” Lombardi said, adding that his predecessor was “totally inimitable.”

“In the context of a different pontificate I tried to interpret and carry out the task assigned to me as best as I knew how, but preserving, for what was possible, his precious legacy,” he said.

Lombardi and Navarro remained friends even after the latter stepped down. For Lombardi, his predecessor was always “an example of a discreet, true and deep spiritual life, fully integrated with his work, a model of dedication to the service of the Pope and the Church, a teacher in communications.”

“Even for me – as I already said, but I willingly repeat – he was inimitable.”

Material from EWTN News Nightly was used in this article.

Human rights and religious groups have voiced opposition to a proposal to issue identification cards to Filipino Muslims as part of a plan to root out extremists in the southern Philippines.

The move is “discriminatory” and “highlights the issue of religion” in the conflict, said Sister Famita Somogod of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines.

She said the conflict in Mindanao “is not about religion,” which has been “repeatedly used and abused as an excuse” to create a rift between Christians and Muslims.

Governor Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao said the “policy clearly discriminates” against Muslims and “could set a dangerous precedent.”

He said the scheme can also “ignite anger among young Muslims who are the primary target for recruitment of extremist groups.”

The governor said the requirement for an identification card should be applied to every resident in the community, not just for Muslims.

Human Rights Watch said the move threatens “to further single out Muslims as part of official counterterrorism efforts.”

The group said the issuance of ID cards to Muslims could violate the rights to equal protection of the law, freedom of movement, and other basic rights.

Ebra Moxsir, president of the Imam Council of the Philippines said his group would only support an ID system “if it is implemented to all, not just Muslims.”

The proposed imposition of the ID system is a response to the perceived failure of Muslim leaders in Marawi to prevent extremist groups from entering the city.

On May 23, terrorist gunmen claiming to be linked to the so-called Islamic State attacked the city of Marawi, burning a Catholic church and a Protestant school.

By José de Arimatéia da Cruz*

Rio de Janeiro is known worldwide for its beautiful beaches and Copacabana’s sidewalks. However, lately much of what is reported on the international media regarding Rio de Janeiro concerns the increasing violence in the city, especially following the 2016 Rio Olympics and illegal rise to power of Michel Temer.[i] While violence is nothing new to a city of Rio’s status, what is new is the connections between localized gangs and international transnational organized crime[ii]. With the advancement of globalization and introduction of neoliberalist economic policies as the “panacea” to Brazil’s socioeconomic problems, criminal organizations in Brazil are in more direct contact with criminal organizations from abroad, thus increasing drug trafficking across Brazil’s board, which has created a sub rosa economy.

Organized Criminal Organizations in Rio de Janeiro

Addressing the current violence in Rio de Janeiro is long overdue given its nefarious effects to societal values and the population at large. In addition to undermining the social fabric of society, transnational organized crime organizations also present a triple threat to a nation-state’s political, economic, and social systems worldwide. Transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) and organized criminal organizations have the potential to undermine not only civil society but also political systems and state sovereignty by normalizing violence, legitimizing corruption, distorting market mechanisms through the disruption of pre-existing equitable commercial transactions, and degrading the environment by sidelining environmental regulation and standards.”[iii]

There is no universally accepted definition of the term “organized crime.”[iv] However, one of its most striking features is the ability that organized criminal organizations have to “mutate” as an integral part of this type of organization modus vivendi. Organized criminal organizations must be able to maneuver to new areas or regions as law enforcement agencies attempt to undermine their leadership and destroy their operational campus.

Given Brazil’s geopolitical strategic location within the Western hemisphere, the country has become “a dispatch point for drugs headed to Europe and Africa,” as well as a recipient for its own internal distributing.[v] In Brazil, there are approximately 30 gangs dominating various prisons throughout the country. However, three make their presence known on a broader scale in terms of visibility, numbers, and firepower. Brazil’s big three have established criminal networks not only in Brazil, especially in the States of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, but they are also active in the Tri-Border region and several other countries in South America.

One of Rio’s notorious gangs is the Primeiro Comando da Capital (First Capital Command, PCC). The PCC is believed to be Brazil’s largest and most organized criminal organization. The PCC has members in two-thirds of Brazil’s federal states and controls trafficking routes between Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay.[vi] The accumulated wealth of the PCC is astonishing. The PCC earns US$55 million per year, made up of a monthly income of US$3.5 million from drug trafficking and US$1 million from members’ contributions. According to Ignacio Cano, researcher at the Violence Analysis Center at Rio de Janeiro State University, “they [PCC] are by far the strongest criminal group in Brazil.”[vii]

Due to the drug trafficking and conflict between criminal factions in Rio de Janeiro, the city is developing a reputation as the state in the Union where more police officers are killed than any other state. Obviously, this violence is not unidirectional. According to the newsweekly magazine Epoca, Rio’s military police kill about 74 persons per month on average.[viii] Roughly 77% of those killed by Rio’s notorious police are Afro-Brazilian or pardos (mulattos).[ix]

Overcoming Violence

While no country in the world can completely eliminate crime or violence, there are steps that the Brazilian government can take to address the elevated level of violence in Rio de Janeiro.[x] First, prevent the excessive use of pretrial detention. If an individual is arrested, he or she should be brought before a judge without delay so that individual will not be jailed for months, sometimes years, in the presence of violent criminals and without formal charges being brought against them. Second, Brazil should decriminalize the use of marijuana. The state of Colorado, in the United States, could become a testing laboratory for Brazil’s government officials. Fortune magazine reports that Colorado’s marijuana business has generated US$ 996.2 million in legal sales of medical and recreational pot in 2015 while in 2014 the state’s legal pot vendors sold roughly US$699 million of the drug.[xi] According to Acebes, more than a quarter of convicted detainees are in prison for nonviolent drug charges.[xii] Finally, the Brazilian government should create social programs to educate and professionalize young man and woman who are incarcerated so when they leave prison they can be productive members of society. Again, according to Acebes, “the system’s goal, according to Brazilian law, is to give children in conflict with the law a chance at rehabilitation through education and other programs. In practice, many of its facilities differ little from adult prisons.” According to Acebes, in his last visit to units in the state of Ceará’s penitentiary system he saw where children were locked up in damp, dark cells 24 hours a day, without any educational or recreational activities whatsoever.[xiii]

Another important step is to overcome the country’s deep social inequality. According to Edmund Amann and Werner Baer, Brazil’s neoliberal regime did not improve income inequality, a problem which has haunted the country for decades. In fact, the gap between the richest 10 percent of income groups and the poorest 40 percent of income groups has continued to increase with the introduction of neoliberal policies. This widening gap is due in part to the reduction of employment opportunities in the industrial sector that occurred as a result of policies that favored privatization, technological advances, and, consequently, mass layoffs.[xiv] Under the Lula administration, according to Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada (IPEA), extreme poverty in Brazil decreased from 12% in 2003 to 4.8% in 2008.[xv] According to Aaron Ansell, this decreased in poverty was a directly consequence of Lula’s administration efforts to combat poverty by introducing a social programs, aid to small farmers, and labor and pension reforms.[xvi]

Rio de Janeiro, Cidade Maravilhosa (the Marvelous City). A city recognized worldwide as one of the wonders of the world. A city that has inspired Brazil’s greatest composers to memorialize its beauty through songs, and yet a city that lately is in the news not for its beauty, charm, and elegance, but rather its violence.

*José de Arimatéia da Cruz, Research Fellow of the Brazil Research Unit at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs

Additional editorial support provided by Aline Piva, Research Fellow and Brazil Unit Head and Liliana Muscarella, Research Fellow at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs

[i] “Amnesty International warns of rising violence in Rio de Janeiro,” available at http://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-violence-rio-idUSKBN1802K8. Accessed May 23, 2017

[ii] http://g1.globo.com/rio-de-janeiro/noticia/chega-a-cinco-numero-de-mortos-em-confrontos-no-complexo-do-alemao-nesta-quinta.ghtml

[iii] Ibid.

[iv] Douglas Farah (August 2012). “Transnational Organized Crime, Terrorism, and Criminalized States in Latin America: An Emerging Tier-One National Security Priority,” U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, PA. Available at http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/PUB1117.pdf.

[v] James Bargent (28 October 2013). “Brazil’s New Security Policies Raise Old Questions,” Insight Crime. Available at http://www.insightcrime.org/news-analysis/brazils-regional-security-focus-edges-out-us.

[vi] InSight Crime (nd). “First Capital Command—PCC.” Available at http://www.insightcrime.org/groups-brazil/first-capital-command-pcc.

[vii] “Brazil’s biggest drug cartel promises a ‘World Cup of terror’ as violent demonstrations take over the streets,” available at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2462638/Brazils-biggest-drug-cartel-promises-World-Cup-terror.html. Access May 9, 2017

[viii] “Policias do Rio Mata em Media 74 pessoas por mes,” available at http://epoca.globo.com/brasil/noticia/2016/12/policiais-do-rio-matam-em-media-74-pessoas-por-mes.html. Accessed May 23, 2017

[ix] “Negros e pardos sao 77% dos mortos pele policia do Rio em 2015,” available at http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/cotidiano/2016/02/1742551-negros-e-pardos-sao-77-dos-mortos-pela-policia-do-rio-em-2015.shtml. Accessed May 23, 2017

[x] The following recommendations are based on Cesar Munoz Acebes, a Brazilian Senior Researcher at Human Rights Watch and based on his essay entitled “Brazil’s Correctional Houses of Horror,” published by Foreign Affairs, Wednesday, January 18th, 2017.

[xi] “Colorado’s Legal Marijuana Industry is Worth $ 1 Billion,” available at http://fortune.com/2016/02/11/marijuana-billion-dollars-colorado. Accessed June 25, 2017

[xii] “Brazil’s Correctional Houses of Horror Recent Mass Killings Show the Need for Reform,” available at https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/brazil/2017-01-18/brazil-s-correctional-houses-horror. Accessed May 23, 2017

[xiii] Ibid.

[xiv] Amann, E., & Baer, W. (2002). Neoliberalism and its consequences in Brazil. Journal of Latin American Studies, 34(4), 945-959.

[xv] Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada (IPEA), Objetivos de Desenvolvimento do Milênio—Relatório Nacional de Acompanhamento (Brasília, March 2010).

[xvi] Ibid.

U.S. Air Force and Japan Air Self-Defense Force units sharpened their combat skills July 6 during a bilateral mission over the East China Sea.

Using Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, as a power-projection platform, two B-1B Lancers assigned to the 9th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron deployed from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, flew a mission over the East China Sea with their Japanese counterparts.

While bilateral operations like this have become increasingly routine, Pacific Air Forces officials said, this mission marked the first time U.S. Pacific Command-directed B-1B Lancers have conducted combined training with Japanese fighters at night.

Participating in bilateral training enables the operational units to improve their combined capabilities and tactical skills, while also building bilateral confidence and strong working relationships.

“Flying and training at night with our allies in a safe, effective manner is an important capability shared between the U.S. and Japan,” said Air Force Maj. Ryan Simpson, Pacific Air Forces chief of bomber operations. The B-1B’s proceeded to the South China Sea before returning to Andersen Air Force Base.

Freedom of Navigation

The mission demonstrates how the United States will continue to exercise the rights of freedom of navigation anywhere international law allows, officials said, noting that these actions are consistent with long-standing and well-known U.S. policies that are applied to military operations around the world.

“This is a clear demonstration of our ability to conduct seamless operations with all of our allies,” Simpson said.

U.S. joint military forces in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region are always ready to defend the American homeland, officials said. These flights with Japan, they added, demonstrate the solidarity between Japan and the United States to defend against provocative and destabilizing actions in the Pacific theater.

After dozens of self-proclaimed imams were prosecuted for recruiting fighters for Middle East wars, state-backed religious organisations have joined the online fight for the hearts and minds of Muslims in the Balkans.

By Fatjona Mejdini, Denis Dzidic, Filip Rudic, Dusica Tomovic, Sinisa Jakov Marusic and Marija Ristic

“We are not terrorists and we love to share baklava [Turkish dessert] with our neighbours,” says one of the messages posted on Facebook by a Belgrade mufti called Mustafa Jusufspahic.

Jusufspahic is among the few religious leaders in Serbia who use social media to communicate with his followers.

“God gave us to each other so we would know each other, not make war,” Jusufspahic said in the caption of a photo on Twitter of himself holding hands with a Catholic and an Orthodox Christian priest.

The Balkans have been a melting pot of various religions for centuries and until recently, most religious leaders used the old-fashioned ways to communicate their beliefs – through sermons at their churches, synagogues and mosques.

But after the authorities in many Balkan states put dozens of self-proclaimed imams behind bars for spreading violence online and inciting terrorism, imams from the official, state-approved Islamic communities have decided to join Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube to get their message across.

Joining forces with football stars

The Facebook page of the imam of Tanners Mosque in Tirana, Elvis Naci, has become highly popular among Albanians. His Facebook and Instagram accounts, which he uses to communicate his moderate views on Islam and call for peace and understanding among believers in the Balkans, currently have half million followers. Among them is Albanian football star Lorik Cana, who often comments on Naci’s posts.

Ylly Gurra, a Tirana mufti and representative of the official Albanian Islamic Community, to which Naci also belongs, says that imams who oversee religious life in Tirana and Albania in general have been advising their followers – especially the younger ones – to stay away from informal mosques which are not recognised by the Islamic Community, where radical clerics preach extremist interpretations of Islam.

Gurra admits however that the use of social media by imams is still in its early stages.

“Most of the imams believes that preaching and giving advice through social networks is not necessary all the time. I personally use them, more to give the counter-narrative in the cases when incorrect forms of Islam are preached online,” he told BIRN.

In neighbouring Macedonia, the official Islamic community has also become much more active on social networks in the past several years, trying to confront or deter people with radical views that divert from moderate Islamic teachings.

Its spokesperson Goni Vojnika told BIRN that increasing numbers of Macedonian imams, including the head of the Islamic Community of Macedonia (IVZ), Sulejman Rexhepi, are taking to social networks for this purpose.

“We are trying to explain to our believers that ISIS does not represent Islam and that the IVZ has always been oriented against any conflicts or wars. Whenever we can, we are condemning terrorism and in particular explaining that violence in the name of religion is not the right way,” Vojnika said.

Vojnika added that it is not rare for imams to participate in online chats when radical ideas are being propagated in order to try to deter or warn people from succumbing to such views.

Jailed Albanian imams radicalised abroad

Four imams are currently in jail in Albania, Kosovo and Macedonia, serving between seven to 18 years in prison for recruiting people to join so-called Islamic State and other extreme Islamist groups and inciting terrorism through their preaching.

Albanian courts in May 2016 jailed imam Bujar Hysa for 18 years and his colleague Genci Balla for 17 years.

The authorities in neighbouring Kosovo arrested 14 imams in the summer of 2014.

So far one of them, Zeqirja Qazimi, an imam in Gjilan, has been convicted and jailed for, among other things, mentoring ISIS fighters including the notorious Lavdrim Muhaxheri, a key commander from Kosovo who died in June.

Prosecutors have accused five others of recruiting for and inciting terrorism through their preaching.

Enes Goga from Peja, Idriz Biliani and Mazllom Mazllomi from Prizren, and Bedri Robaj and Shefqet Krasniqi from Pristina are all awaiting trial. No security measures have been imposed to ensure their presence in court.

In Macedonia, Rexhep Memishi, an imam at two mosques in Skopje, was jailed for seven years in March 2016.

All those arrested and jailed represent a hardline and conservative form of Islam. Three of them studied and lived for years in Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries. Prosecutors said Zeqirja Qazimi was sponsored by Saudi organisations and others from the Gulf that are working in Kosovo.

Shpend Kursani, a researcher at the Kosovar Center for Security Studies, a think-tank, told BIRN that the way they preach reflects their studies in countries like Saudi Arabia.

“Their education and religious development without doubt had an impact on their conservative way of preaching and life in general. As a consequence, their sermons were more conservative than those that the official Islamic communities would like,” he said.

But Kursani said conservatism in Islam was not necessarily linked to extremism or to violent radicalism.

“Many studies show no direct connection between conservatism and extremism, although in certain situations a follower might not be satisfied with peaceful conservative sermons and seek those who are both conservative and violent,” he said.

Two jailed imams in Albania started their studies in Syria and Jordan and later lived in Saudi Arabia and studied at the Islamic University in Medina.

However, only Bujar Hysa finished the course, while trial records say that Genci Balla was expelled because his behaviour was considered problematic.

Media reports say this was also the case with jailed Skopje imam, Rexhep Memishi, who was not able to finish his course at the Islamic University in Saudi Arabia.

Kaltrina Selimi, a researcher in security issues at the Analytica think-tank in Skopje, told BIRN that the connections these people formed outside their universities were more important in pushing them toward radicalisation.

“Most of them [arrested imams] were students who dropped out from their studies in some Arab countries but then remained in those countries and got connected at some point with local extremists there,” she said.

She urged Balkan countries to develop their own higher-degree Islamic studies courses and strengthen the verification process of the diplomas that students of religion get in Middle Eastern countries.

Catching up with the extremists

The other major Muslim group in the Balkans are the Bosniaks, who predominantly live in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also in Serbia and Montenegro.

While imams from Albania, Kosovo and Macedonia have been radicalised abroad, Bosniaks from Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina were radicalised in Bosnia itself.

The most famous and notorious preacher of radical Islam in Bosnia who ended up behind bars has been Bilal Bosnic, who in his village of Gornja Maoca created an unofficial recruitment centre where people from all over Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro would come for what Bosnic decsribed as religious education. Later, many of them would end up in Syria and Iraq.

Although Bosnic has been jailed, his influence online remains huge, as most of his YouTube lectures calling for violence are still available.

But the official Islamic Community in Bosnia is now trying to fight what it sees as an abuse of religious thinking.

Muhamed Jusic, the Islamic Community’s media adviser and noted theologian, told BIRN that the Community is trying to promote traditional Islamic values in Bosnia and Herzegovina, both in mosques and educational facilities, as the best possible response to radicalism.

“All research points to the fact that the traditional form of Islam, which has existed in this region for hundreds of years, is the best preventative programme for the abuse of religion. That is why this traditional Islamic Community is the first in line for attacks by violent extremists,” said Jusic.

He cautioned however that while violent extremists are well versed in new technologies, the traditional Islamic community is only now catching up.

The Community now has an online presence, with 12,000 followers on Facebook. Its newspaper Preporod has 17,000 followers, while the Islamic radio station BIR has more than 22,000 followers.

Muhamed Velic, a Sarajevo imam with almost 65,000 followers, said his community is only now exploring these digital possibilities.

“I find communicating with people who come to my mosque online to be a very effective tool. However, unfortunately, many do not use this tool. Many imams are passive and have no understanding that much of the communication today is online and it’s so important,” Velic told BIRN.

“I know some imams who use online tools and communicate. They do it in an excellent manner, but unfortunately, they are few. I try to encourage some of my colleagues to use more online forms of communication,” he added.

Samir Kadribasic, an imam from the Montenegrin town of Pljevlja, said that Montenegro’s Islamic Community decided to take to social media in order to influence young people in the country who were being led astray.

“Many young people have misinterpreted the religion, they read and heard things online, decided to go to war, took their families, they took them into the unknown, to fight on the side of the extremist groups and ended their lives in the deserts of Syria and Iraq,” Kadribasic told BIRN.

Kadribasic said he is trying to use social media to counter extreme influences.

“I am trying to point out that problem, to express my views, which will help to identify the most radical and extremist groups. The mission of imams in today’s society is to communicate daily with their believers and show this anomaly [of extremism],” he said.

Ivan Ejub Kostic, an Islamic religious expert and director of the Balkan Centre for the Middle East NGO, told BIRN thatsocial networks are a “key battlefield” for the hearts and minds of believers.

Kostic warned that the followers of radicals are sharing and spreading their leaders’ messages “like an army”.

“How would you reach some young man in a village? Today it takes 30 seconds via computer and you’re already in his apartment. He sits at the computer and all of a sudden he is bombarded with notifications, and he is engrossed,” he said.

Belgrade mufti Jusufspahic agreed: “Unfortunately, whoever wants to manipulate this [online] space has a good opportunity,” he said.

But Sarajevo imam Velic offered advice to imams in the region who are trying to counter radical influences: spread positive messages that present a more hopeful and benevolent outlook on religion and life itself.

“I constantly remind those who follow me who we are – God’s creations and his slaves. I remind them of our maker. I tell them to be good and noble. I speak about nice things and offer hope. I tell them nice stories and about the energy I get from my life and faith,” Velic said.

This is the third story produced as a part of Resonant Voices Initiative. To read our first and second story click here and here. To learn more about our project follow Resonant Voices Initiative on Facebook and on Twitter.

By Mohammed Nosseir*

Learning that military personnel or innocent civilians were killed in a terrorist attack ought to be utterly devastating to any citizen. The intensive and ongoing terrorist attacks in Egypt should prompt us to think about this challenge differently.

The outcome of terrorism is disastrous for society; it will never empower a political force over another, but will drag the entire nation to the edge of a slippery slope, where we could be trapped for decades. Unfortunately, not all Egyptians are aware of this, nor is the state addressing the issue properly.

The state faces several intense, nationwide and recurrent battles. We are in a clear conflict with two regional countries, we are negatively affected by the wars in Iraq, Syria and Libya, and Daesh has managed to carry out several terrorist attacks on Egyptian soil.

Additionally, the government is engaged in an open struggle with both the Muslim Brotherhood and reformists, and we are undergoing an economic crisis that entails inflation, stagnation, and a drop in foreign investments and the number of tourists. These challenges, and many others, are enough to exhaust any stable nation.

Accountability is about doing our utmost after considering all scientifically validated options. This is probably what is missing in Egypt; we are focusing on solving our problems via the single option of eliminating our enemies. We are using a methodology that has so far proven unsuccessful, continuing to rely on the same thinking that has led to the multiplication of our economic and political burdens, and the misuse of our nation’s resources.

Yet we insist that we are on the right path. We must stop tackling our challenges from a narrow perspective, and make better use of our energy and resources to address them and combat terrorism intelligently. Imprisoning youngsters endlessly, based on the claim of preventing a new uprising, is distancing millions of Egyptian youths from any kind of unifying mission.

By concentrating on accusing a country in the region of supporting terrorism in Egypt, we are shifting the state’s focus away from overcoming an internal challenge to inciting citizens against a country that presumably will not alter its policy soon. Effective enforcement of the rule of law for ordinary crimes will help the security apparatus and society to tackle terrorism more successfully.

Polarizing our society into citizens who support the government and those who oppose it will cause those identified as “evil” to value the nation less. We cannot expect a citizen who believes he has been treated unjustly for years to support the state’s mission.

Properly applying justice will unite Egyptians against terrorism. Putting the energy and resources of the security apparatus to better use while uniting society against a single enemy — terrorism — will decrease terrorist activity considerably. “We are in a state of war against terrorism,” President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has declared repeatedly. This statement has probably not been persuasive enough to obtain the international support desired by Egypt.

The reluctance of other nations to support it should prompt us to revisit our policy on terrorism and other politically related issues. El-Sisi has taken many measures to avoid another uprising, which in my opinion constitutes a less dangerous challenge to Egypt than the gradually impending prospect of turning into a failed state.

It is now obvious that terrorism has penetrated Egypt mentally and physically. This is a clear and present danger, and we must spare no efforts, resources or ideas to combat it. Many Egyptians, myself included, believe that in any given matter, there is always room for improvement. Sadly, this window is unnoticed by the government.

We need to chuck out the thinking underlying our current ruling mechanism. Seniority and hierarchy are not always the best methods for tackling challenges; sometimes an executive recruited from outside the system can add value. The Egyptian state is undoubtedly in desperate need of reformulating its policies and tactics.

• Mohammed Nosseir, a liberal politician from Egypt, is a strong advocate of political participation and economic freedom. He can be reached on Twitter @MohammedNosseir.

A massive international hacking and telecommunications fraud scheme served as a backdrop for an FBI investigation that led to the capture of a Pakistani citizen who played a major role in scamming U.S. companies out of millions of dollars in fees, according to the FBI.

Muhammad Sohail Qasmani was sentenced on June 28, 2017 after being found guilty of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He is now serving a 48-month prison term for his involvement in the scheme.

The FBI said that from November 2008 to December 2012,  Qasmani laundered more than $19.6 million in proceeds from a conspiracy that transformed the telephone networks of American corporations into literal cash cows.

Allegedly led by another Pakistani national, Noor Aziz Uddin—who is currently a fugitive wanted by the FBI—the fraud scheme involved an international group of highly skilled hackers who focused on penetrating telephone networks of businesses and organizations in the United States. Once the hackers gained access to the computer-operated telephone networks, commonly known as PBX systems, they reprogrammed unused extensions to make unlimited long distance calls, the FBI said.

Before a hired group of dialers could freely use the exploited lines, Aziz set up a handful of pay-per-minute premium telephone numbers to generate revenue. While the numbers appeared to be chat, adult entertainment, and psychic hotlines, no actual services were provided. Instead, the hacked extensions of the U.S. companies dialed into dead air or fake password prompts and voice-mail messages. The longer the lines stayed connected with the fraudulent premium numbers, the higher the bill would be for the unsuspecting businesses. Once paid, the resulting income for Aziz’s fake premium lines ended up in the pockets of the criminal enterprise.

Having previous experience running a money laundering and smuggling business in Thailand, Qasmani was a prime candidate for managing the hundreds of transactions necessary to keep the fraud scheme going over the long term.

Indian citizen Yahya Farooq Mohammad, 39, pleaded guilty Monday to one count of conspiracy to provide and conceal material support or resources to terrorists associated with Al Qaeda in Yemen and one count of solicitation to commit a crime of violence.

Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security Dana J. Boente, Acting U.S. Attorney David A. Sierleja for the Northern District of Ohio, Special Agent in Charge Stephen D. Anthony of the FBI’s Cleveland Field Division, and U.S. Marshal Peter J. Elliott of the Northern District of Ohio made the announcement. The U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of Michigan supervised the prosecution of the solicitation to commit a crime of violence charge.

“The defendant conspired to provide and did provide material support to Anwar Al-Awlaki in response to his calls to support violent jihad,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Boente. “The National Security Division’s highest priority is counterterrorism and we will continue to pursue justice against those who seek to provide material support to terrorists.”

“This defendant conspired to attack our service members abroad as well as a judge in Toledo,” Acting U.S. Attorney Sierleja said. “He threatened the hallmarks of our democracy. He is a dangerous criminal who deserves a long prison sentence.”

“Conspiring to have a judge killed is not the way to avoid being prosecuted – now Mohammad will be held accountable for additional serious federal charges,” said Special Agent in Charge Anthony. “The FBI will continue to work with our partners to ensure the safety of those that uphold the rule of law. “

“Protecting the federal judiciary is our highest priority,” said U.S. Marshal Elliott. “This is an example where we were able to work with our law enforcement partners to protect a judge and bring charges against a dangerous individual.”

Mohammad is an Indian citizen who was an engineering student at Ohio State University between 2002 and 2004. He married a U.S. citizen in 2008. He and three other defendants – his brother, Ibrahim Mohammad, Asif Ahmed Salim, and Sultane Room Salim – were indicted by a federal grand jury in September 2015. The case against the remaining three defendants is pending. They have pleaded not guilty.

Mohammad admitted to conspiring with his co-defendants to travel to Yemen to provide thousands of dollars, equipment, and other assistance to Anwar Al-Awlaki, in an effort to support violent jihad against U.S. military personnel in Iraq, Afghanistan and throughout the world. Al-Awlaki was later designated as a global terrorist in 2010 and identified as a “key leader” of al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula, according to court documents.

On July 22, 2009, Mohammad travelled with two associates to Yemen to meet Awlaki and deliver the $22,000 that they had raised. Although they were unable to meet Awlaki in person, Mohammad and his associates did ensure that Awlaki received the money through a courier.

In addition to pleading guilty to conspiring to provide and conceal material support to terrorists, Mohammad also admitted to soliciting an undercover FBI employee (UCE), posing as a “hitman,” to kidnap and murder U.S. District Judge Jack Zouhary. In or about April 2016 – while the terrorism case was pending and assigned to Judge Zouhary – Mohammad told another inmate in the Lucas County Corrections Center in Toledo, Ohio that he wanted Zouhary kidnapped and murdered and that he was willing to pay $15,000 to have this carried out. The inmate provided Mohammad with the contact information for the UCE and stated that the UCE would need a $1,000 down payment before the murder could occur. The inmate also provided Mohammad with an agreed upon code to use when discussing the planned murder over the jail telephone.

On or about April 26, 2016, Mohammad called the UCE from the Lucas County Corrections Center. Using the agreed-upon code, Mohammad told the UCE he wanted to have Judge Zouhary killed. Mohammad agreed to provide the $1,000 down payment. When asked when he wanted the murder committed, Mohammad stated, “The sooner would be good, you know.” Over the ensuing days, Mohammad arranged to have a family member provide the $1,000 in cash to the UCE. On May 5, 2016, that family member met with the UCE and provided the UCE with $1,000 in cash. Mohammad later informed the inmate that the rest of the money for the murder was coming, according to court documents.

Under the terms of his plea agreement, Mohammad is expected to be sentenced to 27 ½ years in federal prison. Mohammad will be deported from the U.S. upon completion of his sentence, under the terms of his plea agreement.

Al Masdar news has obtained rare images of an air field operated by US warplanes in the Sarrin Plains, located in the far eastern countryside of Aleppo near the provincial border with Raqqa.

The pictures show a large US plane taking off and plenty of Humvees protecting the site. An American flag is also hoisted above the airport which is located in rearguard territory controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

Although not publicly acknowledged by the Pentagon, the US is believed to have constructed upwards of a dozen air fields in northern Syria without the permission of the Syrian Government.

The airstrips are allegedly used to conduct airstrikes against the Islamic State , but also suggest that American troops intend to stay in the war-torn country for years to come.