Egypt President-elect Vows to Fight for Authority By | Associated Press – 1 hr 30 mins ago
CAIRO (AP) — President-elect Mohammed Morsi roused the masses in Tahrir Square on Friday, vowing to fight on behalf of the people and defying the ruling generals by reading a symbolic oath of office a day early at the site where Egypt's revolution was born.
The country's first Islamist president also made a pledge likely to complicate relations with the U.S., vowing to seek the release of blind sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, jailed in the U.S. for plotting to blow up New York City landmarks and assassinate then-PresidentHosni Mubarak.
"We love you Morsi!" the crowd roared in response as the 60-year-old U.S.-trained engineer left the podium to get closer to the cheering crowd.
The promise to seek the release of the Egyptian-born Abdel-Rahman reflected the populist tone of Morsi's speech — his first in the square that was the epicenter of the popular uprising that ousted Mubarak. He also said he would release all detained Egyptian protesters facing military tribunals.
Pointing to protesters holding photos of prisoners, including Abdel-Rahman, the spiritual leader of men convicted in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, Morsi declared: "I will make every effort, I will do it, starting tomorrow, to free them all, including Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman."
"Everybody is hearing me now. The government ... the military and the police. ... No power above this power," he told the tens of thousands of mostly Islamist supporters packing the square. "I reaffirm to you I will not give up any of the president's authorities. I can't afford to do this. I don't have that right."
Morsi's words were a show of defiance as he gears up for a power struggle with the country's ruling generals, who took over major presidential powers and disbanded the Islamist-controlled parliament in the days before the election results were released.
Still, the Muslim Brotherhood leader also avoided direct confrontation with the military leaders and was set to be officially sworn-in Saturday during a ceremony at the country's high court — not parliament, the traditional venue — as dictated by the generals.
At one point, Morsi opened his jacket to show the crowd he was not wearing a bulletproof vest, then declared he "fears no one but God."
The pledge to free Abdel-Rahman came in response to repeated calls by his ultraconservative supporters for the sheik to be repatriated to Egypt on humanitarian grounds. Abdel-Rahman is serving a life sentence.
While it was unclear what Morsi could do, the issue underscored that his victory could complicate relations with the U.S., although both sides have stated their desire to cooperate.
The U.S. State Department declined comment on Morsi's pledge. "There's zero chance that this happens," said an administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss security issues.
In his speech, Morsi repeatedly returned to his main themes — the sovereignty of the people, the importance of unity and sticking to the goals of the revolution.
He promised to reject any efforts to take away the power of the people, telling his supporters: "You are the source of legitimacy and whoever is protected by anyone else will lose."
However, the mere fact that Morsi is to follow the generals' instructions by going ahead with the official inauguration at the high court left no doubt who holds the real power.
Two days before the June 16-17 presidential runoff, the ruling military council disbanded the country's first freely elected parliament, after a court determined the parliamentary elections were illegal. Then, as the polls were closing on June 17, it issued constitutional amendments that gave the military rulers legislative powers and control over drafting a new constitution.
Thousands of protesters, camping in Tahrir for more than two weeks to protest the military's new powers, had demanded Morsi hold his swearing-in ceremony in the square, the epicenter of mass protests that ousted his predecessor.
On Friday, Morsi read an informal oath to the delight of the crowd. "I swear in the name of great God, to sincerely preserve the republican system, to respect the constitution and law and to go after the interests of the people," he said.
Many chanted "We love you, Morsi!" and "Oh, marshal tell the truth. Morsi is your president!" — referring to the head of the ruling military panel, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi.
In a tribute to his 84-year-old Muslim Brotherhood, whose leaders have faced arrest, imprisonment and execution, Morsi said: "We look at history, to know that great men decades ago have planted the seeds of the tree of freedom."
"Decade after decade, after long injustice and darkened night, we reached the Jan. 25 revolution," he said. "The revolution continues and is crystalized today as a clear will of the people in a president elected to lead the ship of the country ... and leading the revolution," he said.
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Friday, June 29, 2012
Time for New Delhi to call Islamabad’s Bluff!
By Bharat Verma
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Last Updated: Fri, Jun 29, 2012 01:58 hrs
Pakistan once again managed to befool New Delhi and the Indian media through its diversionary tactics.
They cleverly diverted the attention from the unfolding big Abu Jindal story, where complicity of Pakistan's ISI involvement in the 26/11 operations was being established.
Initially they announced the Presidential pardon on 26 June 2012 for Sarabjeet Singh, putting the government and the media in a tizzy. Subsequently late at night they changed the name to Surjeet Singh adding huge heart burns and confusion.
The result was that the Indian television channels fell into an emotional trap and instead of focusing on the big unfolding story of huge national interest concerning Abu Jindal digressed to discus threadbare the lesser story of Sarabjeet Singh alone.
They cleverly diverted the attention from the unfolding big Abu Jindal story, where complicity of Pakistan's ISI involvement in the 26/11 operations was being established.
Initially they announced the Presidential pardon on 26 June 2012 for Sarabjeet Singh, putting the government and the media in a tizzy. Subsequently late at night they changed the name to Surjeet Singh adding huge heart burns and confusion.
The result was that the Indian television channels fell into an emotional trap and instead of focusing on the big unfolding story of huge national interest concerning Abu Jindal digressed to discus threadbare the lesser story of Sarabjeet Singh alone.
The confusion purposely created by Islamabad gave ISI breathing space to devise a face-saving counter attack on the Abu Jindal story. The attack was launched later in the evening to destroy the credibility of the unfolding Jindal story.
Rehman Malik was put into play to deny any involvement and to claim that since Abu Jindal was an Indian citizen, New Delhi should be held responsible for his terrorist activities and not Pakistan.
How convenient!
Indians, despite Pakistan's treachery of 65 years had learnt ‘no lessons'.
On Jindal, many commentators within the government and outside said that they now have solid evidence in Pakistan Army's direct involvement in Mumbai 26/11 operations. However they conveniently forgot that we already had adequate evidence by capturing live Azmal Kasab etc.
The government despite the clear evidence that convicted Kasab, did nothing to contain Pakistan's inimical activities. Subsequent singing by Abu Jindal was merely a bonus in terms of additional evidence. I am confident the government will again do nothing except indulge in rhetorical statements.
The key question is can Pakistan be trusted ever?
The victory in 1971 that Indira Gandhi and the military gave to India was lost at the Simla Summit. Bhutto was allowed to escape without finalizing LoC as the International Border. He promised the then Indian Prime Minister that due to pressures from the domestic constituency, he be allowed to ratify acceptance of LoC as the final border later.
Rest is history.
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There are innumerable incidents of treachery by Pakistani military dictators that amply display that the agenda is to destabilize the Union of India by indulging in every dirty trick in the arsenal of ISI. The capture of Abu Jindal merely reinforces the fact that sixty-five years later Pakistan Army's agenda against India remains intact.
Once again, it should be clear to the Prime Minister and Home Minister of India that Pakistan will never accept the concrete evidence offered by India to move against the criminals of 26/11 based in Pakistan as they are considered "strategic assets" and nourished by ISI.
In fact, it is bizarre that New Delhi continues to present reams of evidence on Mumbai 26/11 to perpetrators and expects them to accept their guilt.
This is height of naivety!
Pakistan will never change. Therefore, India must change. Sixty-five years later, it is time for India to finally rise from its pacifist policies of appeasement to strategic assertion by refusing to tolerate any threat posed by Pakistan to the Union of India.
To call Islamabad' bluff, New Delhi will have to execute an aggressive multi-dimensional strategy that will raise exorbitantly the cost of waging war on India.
India, US and Saudi Arabia - the new great game by Col Anil Athale (Retd)
Does the deportation of 26/11 prime accused Abu Jundal/Abu Hamza/Zabiuddin Ansari by Saudi Arabia signal a tectonic shift in India's [ Images ] Middle-East policy? Colonel (retd) Anil Athale tries to explain.
Impact on terrorism
The arrest of Abu Jundal/Abu Hamza/Zabiuddin Ansari, a 26/11 participant of Indian origin; from Saudi Arabia on July 21 and arrest of another suspect (Fasih Mohammed) earlier is a major event in war against terrorism in India. The wide publicity this has received will have a salutary impact on would be terrorists in India. Bangladesh had cracked down on terrorists and other Gulf countries were already shut to them. With Saudi Arabia joining in, Pakistan and Sri Lanka [ Images ] (to some extent) remain the only havens for anti-India activities. The problems of Indian intelligence agencies are thus reduced considerably.
But to expect this to have any effect on Pakistan is living in fool's paradise. No amount of evidence given by India is going to force Pakistan to crack down on the Lashkar-e-Tayiba [ Images ], since it is part and parcel of the Pakistan Army [ Images ]/Inter Services Intelligence combine. Indians are yet to learn that what we face is a 'proxy war' by Pakistan.
Wars are NOT fought on evidence and in court rooms but for national political objectives and Pakistan remains firmly wedded to their aim of breakup of India. There is a Marathi proverb, 'you can wake up a person who is sleeping but not one who is pretending to be asleep'. No amount of evidence is going to convince Pakistan that is in denial mode.
Even at the domestic level the arrest, sadly, will have negligible impact. Already the media has begun the exercise to explain if not justify Ansari turning to terrorism. The perennial 'Gujarat riots' of 2002 is being invoked. Soon busybodies and NGOs flush with funds from Middle-East will begin a campaign to sow doubts about Ansari's identity, the evidence and his confession. But it must be accepted that many more will be reluctant to take up the cause of terrorists now that Saudi Arabia -- the keeper of Mecca and Holy Land for Muslims, has turned against Indian terrorists.
This could have been a golden opportunity to mount an ideological campaign against domestic roots of terrorism, but considerations of 'vote bank' politics make it very unlikely. 'Terrorist mastermind', 'dreaded terrorist' are creations of sensationalising media. Terrorism [ Images ] is a product of twisted ideology, vast pool of unemployed poor and constant motivation by 'secularists' to fan grievances, real or imaginary. The ruling combine needs to keep stoking the fear factor in minorities and then pose as a saviour to reap a harvest of votes at election time (which is most of the time in India).
The principal opposition on the other hand has failed to have an inclusive vision of culture and civilization and has hardly done anything to ally the real or imaginary fears. With this scenario, sadly, India is likely to remain a playground of terrorists for a long time to come.
It is generally expected that intellectuals of the country to play a major role in such conflict to dispassionately diagnose the problem and provide solution. In case of India however, a large swathes of population including the thinkers suffer from a historical 'Stockholm Syndrome'. For the uninitiated, this is a state in which an individual or society begins to have an emotional attraction for its tormentors.
After their release in the infamous IC 814 Kandahar hijacking incident, many captives 'praised' the politeness of the hijackers! In our own morbid way we have turned Mahatma Gandhi's [ Images ] strategy of non-violent agitation against the British into a principal of national policy. We as nation conveniently forget that the non-violence tactic worked against the British -- a civilised and humane nation. The same Gandhi did not oppose use of military force in Kashmir [ Images ] in October 1947. The non-violent methods failed against obdurate Portuguese in Goa [ Images ] and Jawaharlal Nehru [ Images ] (Gandhi's disciple) used military force to liberate it. Six million non-violent Jews were sent to the gas chambers by Adolf Hitler [ Images ]. Non-violence will not work against Hitlers, Chengis Khans and Pakistanis of this world.
Gandhi opposed the Biblical 'eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth' with a question that will that not turn the whole world toothless and blind. The counter is that if only one is to follow Gandhi while the rest of the world continues to have 'tit for tat' then only the non-violent will be both blind and toothless! In the real world one sided non-violence will always be disastrous not unlike one sided love that results in acid attacks.
Acts of terrorism are planned abroad and supported by enemy country's full resources. We in India want to apply common civil law to these complicated crimes. 'Incredible India' is the only country in the world that has no special law to deal with terrorist violence. We are destined to continue to suffer as citizens, capture of one Zabiuddin is not going to change that reality.
The rationale behind the Saudi change of heart!
In international relations things do not happen accidentally, there is always a larger design and picture behind these events. But even more important than this co-operation in nabbing a terrorist, this event underlines the growing close relations between India and Saudi Arabia. This is a direct result of India toeing the American line on Iran. The Saudis have made no secret of the fact that they see Iran and its nuclearisation as a direct threat. With India cutting down on oil imports from Iran and importing oil from Saudi Arabia, we have signaled our intentions. Handing over Indian terrorists sheltered in Saudi Arabia is their way to say thank you. Obviously this creates complications for Pakistan.
Saudi-Pakistan relations have been extremely close and most analysts accept that Pakistan nukes would be available to Saudi Arabia against Iran. That Saudi Arabia has chosen to annoy its principal hedge against Iran nukes is an event of very significant importance. Why has Saudi Arabia seemingly lost confidence in Pakistani nukes? Have Americans managed to neutralise them? Is this a prelude to de-fanging of Pak nuke teeth? All this is in nature of speculation but of great importance for India and its security planners.
By itself this coming close of India and Saudi Arabia and more importantly Saudi Arabia distancing itself from Pakistan terror project in India is an event of tectonic proportions. More so when seen in the light of some other events taking place in our neighbourhood. Sample this,
President Vladimir Putin [ Images ] is visiting Pakistan on September 26 this year. The first ever such visit by a Russia [ Images ]n President. Last year Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari [ Images ] visited Russia, first such visit in 37 years.
China has moved its frontline Sukhoi aircraft to the Lhasa airfield.
The two events are in a sense linked to India and US getting closer. The moves by Russia, China and Saudi Arabia are a direct consequence of the Indo-US quasi alliance taking shape. It is worth speculating that the contours of this relationship were made explicit when Indian PM Manmohan Singh [ Images ] staked the survival of his government for the Indo-US nuclear deal in 2008. The understanding reached then has been further carried forward by the two countries and Russian and Chinese actions are a reaction to this major move by India.
The Indo-US partnership has made Pakistani position of seeking parity with India untenable. But unable to wean itself away from the addiction to American economic and military aid, Pakistan has limited options. One of them is to bring the pot on the boil in Kashmir.
In the coming months we must expect Pakistan-sponsored violence to increase in Kashmir. A major strike against the Amarnath yatra [ Images ] (the Hindu pilgrimage) in which lakhs of people gather presents one such opportunity. A major strike against the pilgrims can have a terrible echo in the rest of the country.
This author had mentioned earlier that in this difficult hour for Pakistan, its 'all weather' friend China will come to its rescue. This may well take the shape of a border skirmish against India. It would also be an appropriate way to remind India, 50 years after the disaster of 1962, that China has the capability of 'teaching a lesson' to India. China can then bank on the peacenik lobby in India to put the blame on Indo-US closeness for this.
All in all, we are in for 'interesting' time as the Chinese say. One only hopes that Indian policy makers are aware of the possible Chinese reaction and Pakistani designs in Kashmir. May be the Americans, aware of this have already strengthened Indian defence capability so that the lesson would be learnt by the Chinese (like they did in case of Vietnam in 1979)!
But it is reasonable to predict that major changes in inter-relationships in Asia are in the offing.
Warm Regards
sanjeev nayyar
sanjeev nayyar
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