ASIAN NEWS Letter- Gaza Massacre: Write to your MP? Are you serious?

Letter submitted to the Asian News Website

By Majed Iqbal- The war crimes in Gaza committed by the Israeli state have bought about mass anger internationally. Locally in Rochdale there has been similar resentment at aggression committed against Gazans with their homes and lives destroyed and even sacred institutions like mosques which have been targeted by the Israeli War machinery.



I have been blitzed with text and Emails on a daily basis showing real concern by people on these issues and offering action points to be 'effective' as a voice on these issues

In looking for practical actions many of us in Rochdale have demanded that we write to our MP who in turn can air these views in parliament on behalf of residents of our town. It bemuses me as to how by doing this any change can happen to the situation in Gaza?

Britain has had an entire history of Supporting Israel and was the driving power in its creation. Til this date, Britain has played an active role in consolidating and strengthening Israels position in the Middle East lagging behind American initiatives for the region.

Majeds Blog writes to Ambassadors of Muslim Embassies in the UK

Majeds blog has been active in writing to the UK Ambassadors of Muslim Countries to highlight the frustration and disgust on their muted response to the Israeli massacres in Gaza. The following letter templates below to the Egyptian, Syrian and Iranina Embassy are available for you to use to copy and paste and send off to the UK embassies of these countries such that voices from the UK clearly highlight that such a massacre was impossible without Arab governments collusion and silence.



EGYPT- Mr. Ambassador, I am outraged by the actions of the Egyptian government in permitting and supporting the massacre conducted in Gaza by the Israeli army.

It was reported in the Haeretz newspaper(1) that prior to this massacre the Foreign Affairs Minister and the designated Acting Prime Minister of Israel Tzipi Livni came to Cairo to inform President Hosni Mubarak that it had decided to attack Gaza.

Why has the Egyptian government colluded with the Israeli government in this massacre?

It was reported in the Gulf News(2) that the Egyptian government closed the Rafah crossing into the Gaza strip as the Israel air strikes were being conducted.

Why has the Egyptian government exacerbated and prolonged the pain and suffering for the Muslims in Gaza?

Egypt alone has 450 000 regular troops to Israel's 180000(3), and comparable levels of tanks and aircrafts.

Why has the Egyptian government done nothing to defend the people of Gaza?

Slideshow- Demonstration to Mobilise Armies to defend Gaza

Over three thousand people demonstrated onSunday 4th January 2009 calling the Arab armies to defend Gaza and the innocent people who continue to be terrorised by the occupying Israeli army. The demonstration started from Paddington Green and travelled through Edgeware Road and concluded with a number of speeches at Marble Arch.

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Many speakers, including Mohamed Ali, CEO of Islam Channel, Mozzem Beg, the former detainee of Guantanamo and Dr Abdul Wahid from Hizb ut Tahrir, the Islamic political party who were the organisers of the demonstration urged the Muslim armies and governments to help the Muslims of Gaza. After months of a siege that starved hundreds of thousands, the Zionist occupiers of Palestine have killed over 300 men women and children in a wave of missile strikes on Gaza and have seriously injured thousands. Where are the Muslim rulers? Where are the Muslim armies? Where is the governement that will respond to the ongoing massacre of Muslims in Gazza and across the globe?

Israel's offensive in Gaza- Blessed by Arab Rulers

By Majed Iqbal- Minute to minute reporting, live coverage, updates and pictures from a territory otherwise known as the world's largest prison, Gaza have hit our screens at the beginning of 2009 showing Israel's offensive on the area with claims that Hamas, the people's choice and democratically elected government of Palestine, had broken a truce for a ceasefire with Israel and ordered for a military incursion into the area.



The strip, home to 1.5 million people, has been already suffering shortages of power, food and medical supplies due to a two-year blockade imposed by Israel on the area and was now turning into a war zone with people fleeing their homes as airstrikes began to deafen the cries of the crippling Gazan Territory.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni defended the Israeli assault in Gaza, saying on America's Sunday morning talk shows that Hamas, not Israel, "is the one who needs to be condemned by the international community."

Livni said that until Hamas recognized Israel's right to exist and ceased rocket attacks against Israel, they remained terrorists who needed to be acted against.

Aerial bombardment by Israel has destroyed mosques, Schools and hospitals raising the death toll to 531 people killed and over 2500 injured across 11 days and with more than 80 deaths since the ground offensive began three days ago.

ASIAN LEADER Article- From the Widows, Orphans and those killed in Iraq

The Following article was published in the Asian Leader Newspaper highlighting the growing negativity and failure of US policy for Iraq and the Arab World as demosntrated through a Journalists shoe throw.



The Newspaper article can be read online on the Look Asia Website. Please click HERE to read

ASIAN LEADER Article- Rochdale Imam accuses Mosques of Child beatings

The following article was published in the Asian Leader Newspaper which discussed claims that Rochdale Mosques were involved in Child beatings.



The Newspaper article can be read online on the Look Asia Website. Please click HERE to read

"From the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq"

By Majed Iqbal- America's campaign led on the War on Terror, regime change in Iraq for the betterment of the Iraqi people, and winning the hearts and minds of Muslim countries was thrown into abyss when a journalist threw his shoes at the outgoing American president George Bush.

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Muntazer al-Zaidi, an Iraqi journalist who works for the Cairo-based al-Baghdadia channel, tore off his shoes and flung them at Mr Bush as he stood beside Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister, during a press conference in Baghdad's Green Zone.

"This is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog. This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq," he shouted before being overpowered by security guards and bundled out of the room.

The American led Nouri al-Maliki government was quick to condemn the action citing it as "shameful" demanding an apology from the journalist's Cairo-based employer, who in turn called for his immediate release from custody.

ASIAN NEWS COVERAGE: Madrassah beating claims is scare tactic

The following article was published on the Asian News Website detailing the views from various Community leaders in Rochdale on the Mosque Child beating Fiasco which has hit national press. Comments from this blog also featured in the article.



MOSQUE leaders and community members have hit back at an unpublished report by a Rochdale imam who has claimed students at some madrassahs are being regularly beaten and abused by their teachers.

Imam Irfan Chishti, a former government adviser on Islamic affairs and religious education teacher who runs the Light of Islam Academy on Milkstone Road, Rochdale, compiled the report based on interviews with victims in madrassahs in the north of England.

He told The Times, which also carried out its own investigation in Rochdale, that he was "shocked" how even victims had accepted the abuse and said there was a "culture that accepts it." He said part of the problem was that madrassah teachers were ignorant of British law which bans corporal punishment.

Both Mr Chishti's and the Times report suggest that children are regularly slapped, punched and even had their ears twisted. One student was "picked up by one leg and spun around" while another said a madrassah teacher was "kicking in my head - like a football".

Rochdale Imam accuses local Mosques of 'Child Beatings'

By Majed Iqbal- According to a new report compiled by Irfan Chishti, a government adviser on Islamic affairs and a close ally to Hazel Blears on her agenda to tackle Extremism, has stated that Muslim children are being beaten and abused regularly by teachers at some madrassas.

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Students have been slapped, punched and had their ears twisted, according to the unpublished report by the Rochdale imam based on interviews with victims in the north of England.

The times newspaper, who ran the story and claimed Exclusive coverage for it, was forthright in painting a bleak picture of Muslims In Rochdale and their institutions. It is yet to be verified as to how the report came to the attention of the times newspaper.

Rochdale Muslims have met the news with utter disgust and have been sceptical over the last months of the direct repeated references being made about Rochdale Muslims in Press and Government Circles. This news story adds to the frenzy which has gradually been whipped up in recent weeks.

Mumbai Attacks- Pakistan's ISI comes under fire

In the continued efforts and pre-Iraq invasion styled rhetoric, the US continues to jab away in any way possible at Pakistan to present the case against the country as being on the brink of disaster.



Now the intelligence services run under fire accused of in-directly supporting armed militant groups. In these endeavours old recruits from the ISI are being named by the US to be added onto the UN list of people and organisations linked to al-Qaida and the Taliban.

"It goes beyond information sharing to include some funding and training" The Times quotes one US official as saying. "And these are not rogue ISI elements. What's going on is done in a fairly disciplined way".

A report, which appeared in The Washington Post's Sunday issue, claimed that Islamabad has agreed to a 48-hour deadline set by India and the US for key suspects to be handed over to India. New Delhi was keen to see the extradition of 20 suspects including former director of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, Hamid Gul.

Condoleeza rice in her visits levelled similar accusations stating that "Pakistan has had historic links with these armed groups previously" referring to the relationship of the Intelligence services and movements operating in the Kashmir region.