PTA ORDERS TO IMMEDIATELY STOP ALL CALL AND SMS PACKAGES

Telecom companies are asked to stop all kind of Voice and SMS bundles, that include daily, weekly, fortnightly and monthly packages by September 2nd, 2013 and submit a compliance report to the authority.

The letter from PTA, a copy of which is produced below, has made the social morality as a reason for the stoppage of voice and SMS bundles. The letter that reads “Directive Relating to Packages Offered by CMTOs Contrary to Moral Values of Society” reasons a survey conducted in November 2012 which suggested PTA that voice and SMS bundles were still active.
Taking the timely decision, PTA has now ordered the operators to stop the packages at once.

Omar Manzoor, Director Communications and CSR at Mobilink confirmed ProPakistani that his company received the directive late today. He said that Mobilink is reviewing the directive and will act accordingly.

Telecom operators are still unsure on how to react. Bigger operators are considerably happy about the directive which is a blessing in disguise for them. Smaller operators, such as Zong and Warid are furious for apparent reasons.

Analysts say currently the industry is derived by these voice and SMS bundles. If not reversed, the whole dynamics of telecom industry of Pakistan will change.

Conspiracy theorist say that PTA has made the case of banning the voice and SMS bundles on moral values, which is likely to be influenced by operators. They say that if operators don’t react on the decision then its apparent that this step is endorsed by the operators.

Other experts even question PTA’s ability to decide the pricing structure this way, especially when there’s no chairman or member at PTA’s head office.

Decision is a nightmare for the end users. The good old days are just gone. Now pay for each call and each SMS.

P.S. There’s no mention of Mobile internet bundles in the directive, which are likely to continue.

Here is the PTA Letter”

The Russian Sleep Experiment

Russian researchers in the late 1940’s kept five people awake for fifteen days using an experimental gas based stimulant. They were kept in a sealed environment to carefully monitor their oxygen intake so the gas didn’t kill them, since it was toxic in high concentrations. This was before closed circuit cameras so they had only microphones and 5 inch thick glass porthole sized windows into the chamber to monitor them. The chamber was stocked with books, cots to sleep on but no bedding, running water and toilet, and enough dried food to last all five for over a month.

The test subjects were political prisoners deemed enemies of the state during world war II.

Everything was fine for the first 5 days, the subjects hardly complained having been promised (falsely) that they would be freed if they submitted to the test and did not sleep for 30 days. Their conversations and activities were monitored and it was noted that they continued to talk about increasingly traumatic incidents in their past, and the general tone of their conversations took on a darker aspect after the 4 day mark.

After five days they started to complain about the circumstances and events that lead them to where they were and started to demonstrate severe paranoia. They stopped talking to each other and began alternately whispering to the microphones and one way mirrored portholes. Oddly they all seemed to think they could win the trust of the experimenters by turning over their comrades, the other subjects in captivity with them. At first the researchers suspected this was an effect of the gas itself…

After nine days the first of them started screaming. He ran the length of the chamber repeatedly yelling at the top of his lungs for 3 hours straight, he continued attempting to scream but was only able to produce occasional squeaks. The researchers postulated that he had physically torn his vocal cords. The most surprising thing about this behavior is how the other captives reacted to it… or rather didn’t react to it. They continued whispering to the microphones until the second of the captives started to scream. The 2 non screaming captives took the books apart, smeared page after page with their own feces and pasted them calmly over the glass portholes. The screaming promptly stopped.

So did the whispering to the microphones.

After 3 more days passed. The researchers checked the microphones hourly to make sure they were working, since they thought it impossible that no sound could be coming with 5 people inside. The oxygen consumption in the chamber indicated that all 5 must still be alive. In fact it was the amount of oxygen 5 people would consume at a very heavy level of strenuous exercise. On the morning of the 14th day the researchers did something they said they would not do to get a reaction from the captives, they used the intercom inside the chamber, hoping to provoke any response from the captives they were afraid were either dead or vegetables.

They announced: “We are opening the chamber to test the microphones step away from the doors and lie flat on the floor or you will be shot. Compliance will earn one of you your immediate freedom."

To their surprise they heard a single phrase in a calm voice response: “We no longer want to be freed."

Debate broke out among the researchers and the military forces funding the research. Unable to provoke any more response using the intercom it was finally decided to open the chamber at midnight on the fifteenth day.

The chamber was flushed of the stimulant gas and filled with fresh air and immediately voices from the microphones began to object. 3 different voices began begging, as if pleading for the life of loved ones to turn the gas back on. The chamber was opened and soldiers sent in to retrieve the test subjects. They began to scream louder than ever, and so did the soldiers when they saw what was inside. Four of the five subjects were still alive, although no one could rightly call the state that any of them in ‘life.’

The food rations past day 5 had not been so much as touched. There were chunks of meat from the dead test subject’s thighs and chest stuffed into the drain in the center of the chamber, blocking the drain and allowing 4 inches of water to accumulate on the floor. Precisely how much of the water on the floor was actually blood was never determined. All four ‘surviving’ test subjects also had large portions of muscle and skin torn away from their bodies. The destruction of flesh and exposed bone on their finger tips indicated that the wounds were inflicted by hand, not with teeth as the researchers initially thought. Closer examination of the position and angles of the wounds indicated that most if not all of them were self-inflicted.

The abdominal organs below the ribcage of all four test subjects had been removed. While the heart, lungs and diaphragm remained in place, the skin and most of the muscles attached to the ribs had been ripped off, exposing the lungs through the ribcage. All the blood vessels and organs remained intact, they had just been taken out and laid on the floor, fanning out around the eviscerated but still living bodies of the subjects. The digestive tract of all four could be seen to be working, digesting food. It quickly became apparent that what they were digesting was their own flesh that they had ripped off and eaten over the course of days.

Most of the soldiers were Russian special operatives at the facility, but still many refused to return to the chamber to remove the test subjects. They continued to scream to be left in the chamber and alternately begged and demanded that the gas be turned back on, lest they fall asleep…

To everyone’s surprise the test subjects put up a fierce fight in the process of being removed from the chamber. One of the Russian soldiers died from having his throat ripped out, another was gravely injured by having his testicles ripped off and an artery in his leg severed by one of the subject’s teeth. Another 5 of the soldiers lost their lives if you count ones that committed suicide in the weeks following the incident.

In the struggle one of the four living subjects had his spleen ruptured and he bled out almost immediately. The medical researchers attempted to sedate him but this proved impossible. He was injected with more than ten times the human dose of a morphine derivative and still fought like a cornered animal, breaking the ribs and arm of one doctor. When heart was seen to beat for a full two minutes after he had bled out to the point there was more air in his vascular system than blood. Even after it stopped he continued to scream and flail for another 3 minutes, struggling attack anyone in reach and just repeating the word “MORE" over and over, weaker and weaker, until he finally fell silent.

The surviving three test subjects were heavily restrained and moved to a medical facility, the two with intact vocal cords continuously begging for the gas demanding to be kept awake…

The most injured of the three was taken to the only surgical operating room that the facility had. In the process of preparing the subject to have his organs placed back within his body it was found that he was effectively immune to the sedative they had given him to prepare him for the surgery. He fought furiously against his restraints when the anesthetic gas was brought out to put him under. He managed to tear most of the way through a 4 inch wide leather strap on one wrist, even through the weight of a 200 pound soldier holding that wrist as well. It took only a little more anesthetic than normal to put him under, and the instant his eyelids fluttered and closed, his heart stopped. In the autopsy of the test subject that died on the operating table it was found that his blood had triple the normal level of oxygen. His muscles that were still attached to his skeleton were badly torn and he had broken 9 bones in his struggle to not be subdued. Most of them were from the force his own muscles had exerted on them.

The second survivor had been the first of the group of five to start screaming. His vocal cords destroyed he was unable to beg or object to surgery, and he only reacted by shaking his head violently in disapproval when the anesthetic gas was brought near him. He shook his head yes when someone suggested, reluctantly, they try the surgery without anesthetic, and did not react for the entire 6 hour procedure of replacing his abdominal organs and attempting to cover them with what remained of his skin. The surgeon presiding stated repeatedly that it should be medically possible for the patient to still be alive. One terrified nurse assisting the surgery stated that she had seen the patients mouth curl into a smile several times, whenever his eyes met hers.

When the surgery ended the subject looked at the surgeon and began to wheeze loudly, attempting to talk while struggling. Assuming this must be something of drastic importance the surgeon had a pen and pad fetched so the patient could write his message. It was simple “Keep cutting."

The other two test subjects were given the same surgery, both without anesthetic as well. Although they had to be injected with a paralytic for the duration of the operation. The surgeon found it impossible to perform the operation while the patients laughed continuously. Once paralyzed the subjects could only follow the attending researchers with their eyes. The paralytic cleared their system in an abnormally short period of time and they were soon trying to escape their bonds. The moment they could speak they were again asking for the stimulant gas. The researchers tried asking why they had injured themselves, why they had ripped out their own guts and why they wanted to be given the gas again.

Only one response was given: “I must remain awake."

All three subject’s restraints were reinforced and they were placed back into the chamber awaiting determination as to what should be done with them. The researchers, facing the wrath of their military ‘benefactors’ for having failed the stated goals of their project considered euthanizing the surviving subjects. The commanding officer, an ex-KGB instead saw potential, and wanted to see what would happen if they were put back on the gas. The researchers strongly objected, but were overruled.

In preparation for being sealed in the chamber again the subjects were connected to an EEG monitor and had their restraints padded for long term confinement. To everyone’s surprise all three stopped struggling the moment it was let slip that they were going back on the gas. It was obvious that at this point all three were putting up a great struggle to stay awake. One of subjects that could speak was humming loudly and continuously; the mute subject was straining his legs against the leather bonds with all his might, first left, then right, then left again for something to focus on. The remaining subject was holding his head off his pillow and blinking rapidly. Having been the first to be wired for EEG most of the researchers were monitoring his brain waves in surprise. They were normal most of the time but sometimes flat lined inexplicably. It looked as if he were repeatedly suffering brain death, before returning to normal. As they focused on paper scrolling out of the brainwave monitor only one nurse saw his eyes slip shut at the same moment his head hit the pillow. His brainwaves immediately changed to that of deep sleep, then flatlined for the last time as his heart simultaneously stopped.

The only remaining subject that could speak started screaming to be sealed in now. His brainwaves showed the same flatlines as one who had just died from falling asleep. The commander gave the order to seal the chamber with both subjects inside, as well as 3 researchers. One of the named three immediately drew his gun and shot the commander point blank between the eyes, then turned the gun on the mute subject and blew his brains out as well.

He pointed his gun at the remaining subject, still restrained to a bed as the remaining members of the medical and research team fled the room. “I won’t be locked in here with these things! Not with you!" he screamed at the man strapped to the table. “WHAT ARE YOU?" he demanded. “I must know!"

The subject smiled.

"Have you forgotten so easily?" The subject asked. “We are you." “We are the madness that lurks within you all, begging to be free at every moment in your deepest animal mind." “We are what you hide from in your beds every night. We are what you sedate into silence and paralysis when you go to the nocturnal haven where we cannot tread."

The researcher paused. Then aimed at the subject’s heart and fired.

The EEG flatlined as the subject weakly choked out “so… nearly… free…"

Israel to turn historic mosque into synagogue

The Israeli army has taken full control of a historic mosque in al-Quds (Jerusalem) to turn it into a synagogue, in what has been considered the latest measures by Tel Aviv to Judaize the Muslim city.

Muslims are banned from entering the mosque, which is located in the village of An-Nabi Samuel in the northwest of al-Quds.

The mosque was built in the 18th century and is an important holy site for Palestinians.

The Israel regime occupied half of the mosque and transformed it into a synagogue in 1994 when the Palestinian Authority lost control of the region.

In August, Tel Aviv announced a similar plan for Nabi Daud Mosque which is located southwest of al-Aqsa Mosque.

Israeli officials have been trying to Judaize the holy Muslim city of al-Quds (Jerusalem) in the past decades.

Earlier this month, the senior member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), Ahmed Qurei, warned that the Israeli regime plans to destroy the Islamic and Arab identity of al-Quds.

Qurei slammed the Tel Aviv regime’s policies which are aimed at violating and destroying ancient and historical sites in the city.

He also said that Israel is trying to Judaize al-Quds.

Tel Aviv has also increased its illegal settlement expansion following an upgrade of Palestine’s status at the UN to a non-member observer state on November 29, 2012.

More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East al-Quds.

The United Nations and most countries regard the Israeli settlements as illegal because the territories were captured by Israel in a war in 1967 and are hence subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbid construction on occupied lands.

Have I Lost Hope at Guantanamo?

My name is Shaker. I am also known as Sawad Al-Madany because I was born in the Holy City of Medina. Please can you remember these names for me, because I hardly can anymore.

Here, they call me 239. In fact, I call myself 239. It feels so strange to witness my name slipping away from me. I can’t do anything about it.

I wonder how long it is going to take for all of us here in Guantánamo to slip away from the world’s memory?

I have not lost hope. No, I have not! Or have I? I am not sure. But I am still writing: is this not a sign of hope?

Yes, we have lost years of our lives here – and some (three times as many as have been convicted) have actually died.

We have lost our sanity, our health, our humanity and our dignity. Yes, we seem to have lost everything.

But I believe we are gradually rediscovering hope and, with hope, we will relocate our lives and everything else that is meaningful.

Meanwhile our tormentors are losing everything and, the more they lose, the more they torment us. I can’t describe what they are doing. The world must hasten to compel the US government to solve this dilemma before it is too late. Candles cannot burn forever.

Egyptian addicted to stealing cuts off both his hands… by allowing a TRAIN to run over his wrists

• So appalled by his crimes, Ali Afifi, 28, apparently decided to punish himself
• The Egyptian severed both hands on the tracks of a speeding train
• Islamic Sharia law states hands are cut off for repeated stealing offences
• Amputation is not practiced in Egypt but some MPs have called for its return

An Egyptian man has sliced off both his hands by placing them in the path of a speeding train to overcome his stealing addiction.

Ali Afifi, 28, was apparently so appalled by his habitual crimes that he took his punishment into his own hands.

The young man, apparently guided by the rules of Sharia law, severed both his hands in his self-inflicted purgatory.

Desperate measure: Ali Afifi began stealing by taking sandwiches for friends but soon developed kleptomania – an addiction to stealing

Self-inflicted punishment: Egyptian Ali Afifi, 28, severed both his hands under a train to fight his addiction of stealing

His decision was likely to have been drawn from the Islamic teaching of Sharia law – the principles, rules and subsequent punishments that inform every element of life for those who practice Islam.

Mr Afifi said his stealing ‘disease’ started at a young age, first taking his friend’s lunches at primary school. It then escalated to items in shops and until recently he was taking people’s mobile phones and gold jewellery.

He said he used to give the money he made from the thefts to children and poor families.

But Mr Afifi was unable to cope with the guilt and decided to cut off his hands to put an end to his compulsive behaviour.

He said he wants to help his local town, improve the buildings and build a youth centre. He also wants to marry but doubts an Egyptian woman would take him because of his history of theft.

The Islamic legal system deals with many issues addressed in secular law as well as informing daily decisions of a personal and mundane matter, including hygiene, fasting, prayer, diet, politics, sexual intercourse and marital rules.

Interpretation of the law by Muslims varies between cultures, but it is accepted in some countries that repeated stealing is punishable by cutting off the hand.

In Islamic divine law, stealing is one of the most serious crimes and punishable by amputation

The 28-year-old, from Tanta, north east Egypt, was apparently so appalled at his own crimes he punished himself guided by Sharia law

Normally, a person caught stealing would be summoned to a Sharia court where Islamic jurists would issue guidance on an issue.

But for Mr Afifi, from the central Nile delta region of Tanta, Egypt, he decided he knew what his fate should be, according to the ‘divine law’.

According to Sharia law, stealing is considered one of the most serious crimes as specified by the Quran.

A Sharia court may issue a punishment of some kind of injury to the hand to someone caught stealing for the first time, such as slowly driving a car wheel over the hand.

In countries such as Iran, Saudi Arabia and northern Nigeria, amputation for repeated stealing is still practiced. In Egypt, however, the courts have not permitted judicial amputation for many years.

Last year, however, under the new Muslim Brotherhood government, MP Adel Azzazy, from the Salafi-oriented Nour Party, proposed a bill to reintroduce amputations for certain crimes.

He called for the application of ‘Heraba’ – extreme punishments for crimes including overt robbery, murder, forcible taking of property with a weapon and vandalising public facilities.

Guilt: Ali Afifi chose to carry out his own punishment for his repeated stealing

Sharia law insists that thieves lose a hand, which prompted Afifi to take such drastic action

The penalties according to Azzazy’s bill were execution in the case of murder, or cutting one arm and one leg from opposite sides of the culprit’s body in the cases of robbery and forcible taking of property.

If the taking of possessions is accompanied by murder, the penalty would be death or crucifixion, to be determined by the judge.

The bill, according to the Egypt Independent, also stipulated imprisonment for intimidating citizens, and that the prison sentence will end when the felon repents.

The penalties would only be imposed on adult, mentally-stable wrongdoers, who either committed the crimes or assisted in carrying them out, according to the bill.

Mr Afifi, who lives in Tanta, in Egypt’s northern Delta region, now has two stumps where his hands and wrists once were

This Video Of A Syrian Father Reunited With The Son He Thought Was Dead Will Bring You To Tears

The U.S. is on the brink of a military strike against Syria, with much of the push for intervention coming from video evidence of an alleged chemical attack on Aug. 21.

The attack injured roughly 3,600 and killed hundreds, producing horrifying images of dead and injured — many of them children.

Those were just a small portion of many terrible and violent videos to come from the two-year-old conflict.

Fortunately, another video has come from the war-torn country: a father being reunited with the son he thought was lost. According to the video’s description, it was filmed on Aug. 25 in Zamalka.

Max Fisher at The Washington Post found the video which was posted Monday by Syrian activists. You don’t need to speak Arabic to understand the raw emotion and amazing moment when a father once again holds his son.

Fisher writes:

The man who first appears when the video opens isn’t the father – he’s someone else, perhaps another relative. It’s not until a minute in that the boy’s father appears, his face twisted in joy, running out of the house to see his son.

Nawaz tells Punjab not to curb peaceful protests

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Sunday that peaceful protest was an inalienable right of all political parties and directed the Punjab government that there should be no violation in this regard.

Talking to Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on telephone, the prime minister said democracy and peaceful protests were interlinked.

The Punjab government should ensure that no authority created any impediment in the way of this constitutional right of all citizens, including political parties, he said, adding that all issues should be resolved through dialogue.—APP

Balochistan parties bicker over cabinet

QUETTA, Aug 25: Balochistan has been doing without a cabinet of reasonable size even after the passage of three months since the general election.

Sources said that coalition partners in the Balochistan government had failed to implement the Murree agreement agreed to by the PML-N, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party and National Party about share in the provincial cabinet.

The Balochistan PML-N wants to be given the maximum number of ministries, saying it has the right for a big share in the cabinet because the PkMAP has got the office of governor and the NP the slot of the chief minister.

Sources in the PkMAP and NP said the PML-N’s Balochistan leadership was an obstacle in cabinet formation because it wanted to give less share to its coalition partners in the cabinet. But the PML-N leaders said that coalition partners, after getting offices of the governor and the chief minister, were insisting on giving only six ministries and two advisers’ slots to them, which was an injustice with the party.

Meanwhile, under the 18th amendment of the constitution, the provincial government is bound to form less number of standing committees in the provincial assembly, but the government of Dr Malik has found a way out and decided to get a bill passed in the assembly introducing amendments to rules and regulations of the legislature and after that, it would be empowered to form 15 standing committees in the house.

“The provincial government wants to include the members who will not become part of the cabinet in the standing committees,” the sources said.

Ahmed Faraz goes unsung on death anniversary

ISLAMABAD, Aug 25: The fifth death anniversary of the renowned poet Ahmed Faraz on Sunday went unnoticed at the state level as no official function was held in this regard in the federal capital.

However, his family visited the H-8 graveyard to pray for him. Saadi Faraz and Shibli Faraz, sons of Ahmed Faraz, were accompanied by Mehboob Zafar and Ghazanfar Hashmi who laid a floral wreath on behalf of the Ahmed Faraz Trust.

Poets and writers from the twin cities, including Naseem Saher, Manzar Naqvi, Sana Hashmi, Tariq Naeem, Aftab Zia, Rana Mohammad Ajmal and others were also present on the occasion. Similarly, Chairman Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL) Abdul Hameed also visited the grave and laid a floral wreath.

Shibli Faraz, while talking to Dawn, said all over the world, poets and literary personalities were officially remembered but the government of Pakistan had done nothing to appreciate his father’s services.

“My father had said Asif Zardari’s PPP (Pakistan People’s Party) was not the same founded by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto due to which he was banned from state television,” he said.

He added, “The PPP government should have returned his (Ahmed Faraz’) presidential awards Sitara-e-Imtiaz and Hilal-e-Imtiaz which he was given in 2004. He had returned these titles when Pervez Musharraf imposed an emergency in November 2007, but no one bothered to restore them,” he said.

Shibli Faraz said during the PPP government, he had gone to the Secretary for Cabinet Division Nargis Sethi after coming to know that his father’s awards were being restored, but she had refused to give him anything in writing.

“I don’t have any expectation from the [current] PML-N government because they think Ahmed Faraz belonged to the PPP. They should understand that Faraz was poet of Pakistan,” he said.

Poet Mehboob Zafar said Ahmad Faraz’ death was an irrecoverable loss as such poets were born once in a century. “Faraz was the most prominent and famous poet,” he said.

Poet Tariq Shahid said, “A large number of poets and writers who were facing financial problems were helped by Faraz.”

Ahmed Faraz (real name Syed Ahmad Shah Ali) was born on Jan 12 1931 in Kohat. He was arrested for reciting poems which criticised military rulers in Pakistan during the Zia-ul-Haq era and also went into a self-imposed exile to the United Kingdom.

During Benazir Bhutto’s rule, Faraz came back to Pakistan and was appointed as Chairman PAL and later as chairperson of the National Book Foundation for several years.

He was awarded numerous national and international awards, and died from kidney failure on August 25 2008.

Kalam visit: Empowering people is real change, says Imran Khan

KALAM:Real change can come only when the people are empowered and take their own decisions rather than following dictations, said Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan on Monday.

Imran was speaking at a rally in Kalam.

The PTI chief – who arrived in the area today – was briefed about the restoration of two dysfunctional power stations.

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government had handed over the power stations – which were closed down in the past – to the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP).

Imran, who was flanked by K-P Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak and other party members, said the PTI-led government in the province is introducing laws that will bring big changes in the official setup.

Stating that the laws will give more power to the people, the PTI chief said united and empowered people can change the fate of the country.

“Our aim is to give local people the authority and control over the resources,” Imran said, adding that decisions for an area should be taken by the elected leaders of the place rather than from “distant leadership in Peshawar.”

Petition Filed Over Restriction Of Zardari & Kayani’s Foreign Trip

Islamabad: A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court against the President Asif Ali Zardari and Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani over going abroad from the country without prior permission and presenting themselves in the court.

Applicant Shahid Orakzai has filed the agreed application in constitutional petition number 92/2011. Doubts are presented by the officials over the happening of the Abbotabad and Osama bin Laden incident that points to the alleged involvement of the President in the matter.
Allegations have been leveled against Zardari that he already knew about the CI operation and he had not informed the armed officials on the directive message by the former American ambassador, Hussain Haqqani. Zardari’s involvement in the high-level violation incident is further marked by the anxiety he had shown over the investigations done with Haqqani. ‘He has asked for the interrogations to be done in his presence’, officials stated.

In the application it has been stated that the interrogations took place in the presence of the President in the President House while the Haqqani was questioned about his alleged involvement in the matter by the DG ISI Shuja Pasha, President Zardari, former Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and COA General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani were present on the occasion.

The applicant said that the three men have already left the country and after completing their tenure Zardari and Kayani will also leave. It has been appealed to the court that role of Haqqani in the memo scandal is crystal clear therefore the court should impose restriction over the foreign trip of the President and the COA should be bounded to ask for permission.

US forces 'used chemical weapons' during assault on city of Fallujah

Powerful new evidence emerged yesterday that the United States dropped massive quantities of white phosphorus on the Iraqi city of Fallujah during the attack on the city in November 2004, killing insurgents and civilians with the appalling burns that are the signature of this weapon.

Ever since the assault, which went unreported by any Western journalists, rumours have swirled that the Americans used chemical weapons on the city.

On 10 November last year, the Islam Online website wrote: "US troops are reportedly using chemical weapons and poisonous gas in its large-scale offensive on the Iraqi resistance bastion of Fallujah, a grim reminder of Saddam Hussein's alleged gassing of the Kurds in 1988."

The website quoted insurgent sources as saying: "The US occupation troops are gassing resistance fighters and confronting them with internationally banned chemical weapons."

In December the US government formally denied the reports, describing them as "widespread myths". "Some news accounts have claimed that US forces have used 'outlawed' phosphorus shells in Fallujah," the USinfo website said. "Phosphorus shells are not outlawed. US forces have used them very sparingly in Fallujah, for illumination purposes.

"They were fired into the air to illuminate enemy positions at night, not at enemy fighters."

But now new information has surfaced, including hideous photographs and videos and interviews with American soldiers who took part in the Fallujah attack, which provides graphic proof that phosphorus shells were widely deployed in the city as a weapon.

In a documentary to be broadcast by RAI, the Italian state broadcaster, this morning, a former American soldier who fought at Fallujah says: "I heard the order to pay attention because they were going to use white phosphorus on Fallujah. In military jargon it's known as Willy Pete.

"Phosphorus burns bodies, in fact it melts the flesh all the way down to the bone ... I saw the burned bodies of women and children. Phosphorus explodes and forms a cloud. Anyone within a radius of 150 metres is done for."

Photographs on the website of RaiTG24, the broadcaster's 24-hours news channel, www.rainews24.it, show exactly what the former soldier means. Provided by the Studies Centre of Human Rights in Fallujah, dozens of high-quality, colour close-ups show bodies of Fallujah residents, some still in their beds, whose clothes remain largely intact but whose skin has been dissolved or caramelised or turned the consistency of leather by the shells.

A biologist in Fallujah, Mohamad Tareq, interviewed for the film, says: "A rain of fire fell on the city, the people struck by this multi-coloured substance started to burn, we found people dead with strange wounds, the bodies burned but the clothes intact."

The documentary, entitled Fallujah: the Hidden Massacre, also provides what it claims is clinching evidence that incendiary bombs known as Mark 77, a new, improved form of napalm, was used in the attack on Fallujah, in breach of the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons of 1980, which only allows its use against military targets.

Meanwhile, five US soldiers from the elite 75th Ranger Regiment have been charged with kicking and punching detainees in Iraq.

The news came as a suicide car bomber killed four American soldiers at a checkpoint south of Baghdad yesterday.

Syria jihadists vow revenge strikes over chemical claims

BEIRUT: Al-Qaeda-linked Syrian jihadist group Al-Nusra Front on Sunday vowed revenge strikes against villages from President Bashar al-Assad's community over claims his forces used chemical weapons.

"The Alawite villages will pay the price for each chemical rocket that

struck our people in Damascus," Al-Nusra front chief Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani said in an audio message posted on the Internet and on his Twitter account.

Assad hails from the Alawite community, an offshoot of Shia Islam unlike

most Sunni rebel groups fighting to topple him, including Al-Nusra whose chief in March pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda.

Rape attempt on CNN reporter by Indian crowd

Lahore police crackdown on loadshedding protesters, 20 held

LAHORE: Police on Suday arrested twenty persons vehemently protesting against prolonged unannounced electricity loadshedding causing immense hardship and misery to the area people here, Geo News reported.

According to details, hundreds of angry people strongly protesting persistent loadshedding came out on the roads and streets at Bagrian in Green Town here. Police in a bid to disperse the crowds resorted to aerial firing and arrested 20 persons from among the demonstrators.

This unwarranted action of the police added fuel to the fire when the peaceful demonstrators losing temper replied to police highhandedness by hurling stones, voicing slogans and blocking the roads.

Meanwhile, police reinforcement has been called in and efforts are afoot to control the situation.

India's 60 million women that never were

60 million women - that's nearly the entire population of the United Kingdom - are missing in India. Why?

 

It has been nearly seven months since a young student was gang-raped in the New Delhi, India, and died from her horrific injuries 13 days later on December 29, 2012. The fast-track trial of the accused men has just re-started and the sentence is due any day now.

When thousands of Indians took to the streets to protest the inability of the establishment to protect women, they demanded not just a change in the law but in people's attitudes. But the watershed moment that many Indians hoped for doesn't seem to have arrived. And that may be because most Indians don't even recognise the extent of the problem in their own country.

Let's start with a figure: 60 million. That is nearly the entire population of the United Kingdom. That is also the approximate number of women "missing" in India. They have either been aborted before birth, killed once born, died of neglect because they were girls, or perhaps murdered by their husband's family for not paying enough dowry at marriage.

That number isn't a wild exaggeration or a figure thoughtlessly plucked out of the air, but a matter of demographics. As far back as 1991, the economist Amartya Sen pointed out that Asia was missing 100 million women because of sex-selection and the poor attention paid to women. In 2005, it was estimated at 50 million Indian women in the New York Times. But this isn't a new problem.

In 1991, the Indian census showed an unprecedented drop of women in the sex-ratio. After running tests to check whether women had been under-counted, they found that a massive explosion in sex-selection during the 80s had led to a sharp drop in the number of girls being born. A report by Action Aid in 2009 ("Disappearing Daughters" [PDF]) found that in some villages in the state of Punjab, there were as few as 300 girls for every 1,000 boys.

Overall, India had 37.25 million fewer women than men according to the 2011 Census. To match the sexes equally and then increase the number of women to match the natural sex-ratio would require around 60 to 70 million women. That is the number of women missing. This phenomenon cannot be called anything less than genocide.

So why isn't there more recognition of this mass tragedy? In my recently released e-book India Dishonoured: Behind a Nation's War on Women, I show that many Indians don't want to recognise the problem because it has become deeply ingrained in the culture.

This is illustrated with how the political establishment reacted to the gang-rape in New Delhi. Initially, many politicians simply dismissed the protests on the streets. Mohan Bhagwat, chief of the powerful Hindu nationalist organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), even said, "You go to villages and forests of the country and there will be no such incidents of gang-rape or sex crimes. They are prevalent in some urban belts." He went on to criticise "western lifestyle" in cities for sexual assaults.

Even the prime minister said nothing about the incident until a week later, despite the protests. Nevertheless an independently produced report commissioned by the government made excellent recommendations that were broadly adopted despite some exceptions. Marital rape, for example, is still legal there.

While changes in the law are welcome, they barely scratch the surface. India and China alone represent nearly four out of every ten of all people on earth. Due to endemic sex-selection in both countries, the imbalance of women and men there is unprecedented in human history.

In India, the overall sex-ratio for young children has fallen to 916 girls per 1,000 boys, and had consistently gotten worse over the last 60 years. In 2012, India was named the worst G20 country to be a woman in due to sex selection, infanticide and trafficking.

Worse, the liberalisation of social attitudes and rising incomes over the last 20 years has, paradoxically, made the matter worse in many ways. While some Indian women have never had so much freedom, these changes are being accompanied by a huge backlash in the form of higher rates of rapes and assaults, and an establishment that has preferred to blame "western values" instead.

But the problem in India goes to the heart of cultural practices that have been around for centuries. Culture doesn't just determine a country's laws and how well they are implemented, it also discourages or encourages violence against women. Practices such as paying dowry for brides, shunning divorced women, passing on inheritances only to men, not putting girls through schools - are all part of the problem. As families get richer, there is more pressure to pay out bigger dowries for girls and they have more money to afford an abortion.

According to one estimate, by 2020 India will have an extra 28 million men of marriageable age. The social impact of such an imbalance is unprecedented in history, and India barely has a police force and judicial system that can cope with the current problem.

Unless the country recognises the gravity of the problem and does more to protect half the population, the social impact will be felt in every aspect of Indian society for decades.

Sunny Hundal is the author of the recently released e-book, India Dishonoured: Behind a Nation's War on Women and is a regular contributor to the Guardian and the New Statesman.

The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.

Contempt notice to Imran: SC reconstitutes bench

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has reconstituted a bench to conduct proceedings in contempt of court notice to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, Geo News reported Thursday.

The three-judge new SC bench, headed by Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali and comprising Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Aijaz Afzal, will resume hearing of the case on August 28.

According to sources, the SC reconstituted the above bench due to Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry’s engagements in Quetta next week.

The earlier bench which was hearing the contempt case against Imran Khan was headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and comprised Justice Jawwad S Khwaja and Justice Shaikh Azmat Saeed as members.

Pakistan to release 365 Indian prisoners Saturday

Islamabad: Ministry of Interior is releasing 365 Indian prisoners which include 340 Fishermen and 25 crew members of Indian vessels through the Wagha Border on Saturday.

Representatives of Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Home Department Punjab/Sindh and Indian High Commission shall be present on the occasion.

340 Fishermen will be released from District Jail Malir, Karachi, while 25 crew members will be released from Gaddani Jail, Balochistan.

All these prisoners have completed their sentences and after confirmation of their National Status as Indians they are being released/repatriated to India through Wagha Border on August 24 as per agreement with India. (PPI)

 

Four Rockets Fired At Israel From Lebanon

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to "strike anyone who tries to harm us" after four rockets were fired towards northern Israel from Lebanon.

None of them landed in the territory, according to military officials, and no-one was hurt.

"Anyone who harms us, or tries to harm us, should know - we will strike them," the PM said in a televised address.

Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner said the rockets were from a location south of the Lebanese port city of Tyre.

And one of them was intercepted by Israel's "Iron Dome" defence system.

He said the others did not land in Israel. Earlier reports said two rockets came down in an open area near the border town of Nahariya.

There was some minor damage to a vehicle and a street.

Mr Lerner said that was probably caused by falling debris from the rocket defence system.

Witnesses reported hearing explosions and sirens wailing close to Nahariya.

Keinan Engel from the town told Israel Radio he heard a siren following a loud boom nearby.

Mr Netanyahu warned of retaliation

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

The Israeli military said it was investigating and officials accused "global jihad" elements of being behind the attack, referring to groups either linked to or inspired by al Qaeda.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity under military guidelines.

South Lebanon, the scene of bitter fighting between Israel and Lebanese militant Hizbollah guerrillas in 2006, is considered a Hizbollah stronghold

There are also Palestinian radical groups and Islamic militants that could also provoke a border incident. Several such incidents in the past were claimed by radical Palestinian groups.

The Israel-Lebanon border has remained very quiet since Israel and Hizbollah militants fought each other in a month-long war seven years ago.

Sporadic incidents of rocket fire have taken place since.

But tensions have remained high, especially as Hizbollah has become increasingly involved in the civil war in neighbouring Syria.

Israel fears that Syria will transfer sophisticated weapons to Hizbollah.

Syria: Russia Urges UN To Probe 'Gas Attack'

Syria's staunchest ally has joined international calls for UN investigators to be allowed access to the site of an alleged massacre where it is claimed 1,300 people have been killed in a chemical weapons attack.

Russia, which has suggested the attack could be a "premeditated provocation" by opposition forces, urged the Syrian government and the United Nations to agree on a visit by the experts, who were already in the country to examine previous claims of chemical weapons use in the two-and-a-half year civil war.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said Syria's position on sending inspectors to the site of the reported attack should be respected, but dismissed the suggestion that Russia would object to such an investigation.

The attacks are alleged to have taken place in Ein Tarma and Zamalka

"We, quite the opposite, have an interest in the investigation into what happened (to) happen objectively," he said.

The Syrian government offered no immediate public response to the call, but is now under mounting pressure to permit a probe by the UN team before any potential evidence is lost.

The Syrian opposition, Germany and Turkey on Thursday also joined demands from Britain, France and the United States for the UN inspectors to be given "immediate and unrestricted access" to the area "to try and establish the truth".

The United Nations is also facing growing international pressure to act if claims of the massacre are confirmed.

A boy, affected by what activists claim is nerve gas, in a hospital

Unverified footage of casualties, including children, in makeshift hospitals suffering convulsions and breathing difficulties have been circulated on YouTube.

The Security Council said clarity was needed of the reports, but stopped short of explicitly demanding a probe by UN investigators.

Officials from Russia and China are reported to have blocked a stronger UN press statement supported by Britain, France, the US and others.

France earlier raised the possibility of intervention by saying the international community would need to respond with "force" if allegations that Syrian President Bashar al Assad's government was responsible were confirmed.

A survivor rests inside a mosque near Damascus

"If it is proven, France's position is that there must be a reaction, a reaction that could take the form of a reaction with force," French foreign minister Laurent Fabius told BFM-TV.

"There are possibilities for responding," he said without elaborating.

He added that if the UN Security Council could not make a decision, one would have to be taken "in other ways".

Mr Fabius called the alleged chemical attack "a horrendous tragedy" not seen since thousands of Iraqi Kurds were gassed by Saddam Hussein's forces at Halabja in 1988.

Turkey's foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu said "all red lines" had been crossed and called UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to urge the the Security Council to "carry out its responsibilities".

A protest outside the UN in New York against over the alleged attack

The National Coalition claims toxic gas was used by President Assad's forces during a bombardment of rebel-held areas outside Damascus.

It said the death toll was likely to rise after a neighbourhood with many casualties was discovered in Zamalka.

Government officials said the claims were "totally false" and the international news organisations reporting them were "implicated in the shedding of Syrian blood and support terrorism".

Iran, Syria's chief regional ally, also rejected claims that the Assad regime was responsible, saying if such an attack was proven it would be down to the rebels, IRNA news agency said.

Syria is thought to have some of the world's largest stocks of chemical weapons, including mustard gas and the nerve agent sarin, but the government in Damascus refuses to confirm this is the case.