Habib Siddiqui

The United Nations Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Adama Dieng, expressed alarm at reports of the deteriorating security, human rights and humanitarian situation in northern Rakhine State, Myanmar. Following attacks by armed assailants against border security posts in October 2016, the response of the military has reportedly been characterized by excessive use of force and other serious human rights violations against civilian population, particularly the Rohingya Muslim population, including allegations of extrajudicial executions, torture, rape and the destruction of religious property. “These allegations must be verified as a matter of urgency”, stated Adama Dieng. “If they are true, the lives of thousands of people are at risk. The reputation of Myanmar, its new Government and its military forces is also at stake in this matter.” Adama Dieng concluded by saying that “the current violence did not come out of thin air. It is taking place against a background of very...

If you are a resident of the USA, the chances are quite high that you got a call from a con who presents himself as an employee of the IRS threatening you to pay a lump sum amount for your tax filing. The voice on the other side always has a distinct Indian accent, although the number dialed from appears to be from the Washington D.C. area, thus confusing many ordinary residents. The IRS never calls a tax-filer, and those who knew about the truth could not be swindled by these IRS-pretenders, but many did get victimized. I have often wondered as to how these criminals got info on personal phone or other sensitive info. The truth is as a result of globalization, many of our personal info, including tax filing info has been outsourced to places like India, say, in cities like Mumbai and Bangalore. Many Americans are unaware that when they go to tax filing companies with their persona info these are fed to their subsidiaries or outside third party contractors for doing the real job of an...

Bangladesh is doing it again ! It's criminal and simply inexcusable! I'm simply ashamed of the attitude of the government on such a humanitarian crisis when it could have used the event to bring the heinous crimes of the Myanmar Government to the international community and ask for justice for the fleeing Rohingya. Multiple boats packed with Rohingya refugees fleeing violence in Myanmar were turned back by Bangladesh border guards today, despite appeals by the country's opposition to provide shelter to the persecuted Muslim minority. Thousands of desperate Rohingya from Myanmar's western Rakhine state have flooded over the border into Bangladesh in the last week, bringing with them horrifying claims of gang rape, torture and murder at the hands of Myanmar's security forces. Eight boats attempting to cross the Naf River separating Rakhine from southern Bangladesh were pushed back on Monday after six were refused entry on Sunday, head of the board guards in the Ba...

Here below is letter from Dr. Chandra Muzaffar of the JUST: THERE is increasing recognition of the fact that "ethnic cleansing" of the Rohingyas is taking place in Rakhine, Myanmar. A number of groups and individuals are coming to terms with this grim reality especially after the "evidence of a new reign of terror and wholesale destruction of communities exercised by the Myanmar state against the Rohingya population has emerged" in October and this month. On Nov 25, the Malaysian government officially referred to the "alleged ethnic cleansing" of the Rohingyas. Given the constraints of bilateral relations within the context of their common Asean membership, the Malaysian government has more than at any time in the past admonished the Myanmar government for its acts of commission and omission vis-à-vis the tragic plight of the Rohingya people. The Malaysian government should now try to convince the other Asean governments that a slow genocide has b...

Here is the link to a must-read article by Chris Hedges.

Fidel Castro, the Cuban leader who led anti-imperialist revolution casting off U.S. hegemony and taking the liberated country to the path of communism, died on Friday at the age of 90. While Havana and the rest of Cuba mourns for the death of their beloved revolutionary leader, the Cuban exiles in Miami’s Little Havana celebrates his death. For too long, the exiles in Miami had hoped for Fidel Castro’s death. They had chanted, “Free Cuba! Down with Castro. Down with tyranny!” They had seen him as a brutal dictator, a tyrant who banned free speech, freedom of assembly and a free press, abolished Christmas as an official holiday for nearly 30 years, and executed or jailed thousands of political opponents. For nearly half a century, Fidel Castro had played an immense role in America’s political psyche. In the words of Karen DeYoung , “Even when his country ceased to be much of a policy concern — long after the memories of threatened nuclear attack and Third World adventuris...

The Washington Post has posted this weekend an apologia from an ex-US Marine-cum-Asian expert  who works for the Brookings Institution. Here below is my comment on the subject, which I sent to the newspaper. ========== Lex Reiffel is in denial and his letter to the editor is nothing more than an apologia for Suu Kyi. As Dr. Maung Zarni, a Burmese exile, has written in his blog, the "victims of genocides can't wait until she [Suu Kyi] completes her consolidation of power.   She is a pathetic politician who could not muster enough compassion and will to even visit IDP camps in Rakine - about 1 hr by flight from Rangoon [Yangon], but has time and energy to be travelling 10,000 miles to collect all kinds of human rights and humanitarian awards." That sums up Suu Kyi's priorities! It is no accident that she has been criminally silent about the genocidal crimes by Myanmar security forces against the Rohingyas of Myanmar in the last two months, which has resulted in t...

The news below is from the RB News: Maungdaw – The Burmese Border Guard (BGP) Police begins to destroy the brick-walls of ancient Islamic University at Nurullah village in southern Maungdaw today, a reliable source reports. They have started breaking the walls at 11 am and continue to destroy it up until now and threatened that they would further destroy the mosque and other university buildings. The commander of the BGP at ‘Maggyi Chaung’ camp and his team arrived at Nuruallah village this morning ordered some 40 forced labors from the village. The administrator of the village arrived with 30 people and the BGP ordered them to destroy the brick-walls. “He said ‘you should not have come empty-handed. Go and get hammers and other tools to destroy the walls of the university’”, said a local Rohingya at Nurullah, “when we refused, he said ‘you don’t need to destroy by yourself. You just need to ACT for PHOTOSHOOTS.’ Yet, we refused and they have started destroying by themselves.”...

Fidel Castro, the Cuban leader who led anti-imperialist revolution casting off U.S. hegemony and taking the liberated country to the path of communism, died on Friday at the age of 90.

Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn reportedly installed a secret internet connection into his office at the Pentagon even though it was "forbidden," according to a new profile in The New Yorker by Dana Priest. The network connection was reportedly among other rules the former chief of the Defense Intelligence Agency broke because he found them to be "stupid," including his sometimes unauthorized sneaking out of a CIA station in Iraq and his sharing of classified information with NATO allies without approval. The possibility of an external internet connection being installed in violation of facility rules drew parallels to former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton , who was often criticized by the general on the campaign trail for using a private email server while she was secretary of state. "So there seems to be a standard for the Clintons that's not the same standard for the rest of America," Flynn told The Heritage Foundation of what would ha...

You can view Uri Avnery's latest piece on the Muslim call of prayer, which the Israeli government is trying to stop in the apartheid state, by clicking here .

ANDREW LEVINE  is a Senior Scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies, the author most recently of THE AMERICAN IDEOLOGY (Routledge) and  POLITICAL KEY WORDS  (Blackwell) as well as of many other books and articles in political philosophy. His most recent book is  In Bad Faith: What’s Wrong With the Opium of the People . He was a Professor (philosophy) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Research Professor (philosophy) at the University of Maryland-College Park.  He is a contributor to  Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion  (AK Press). His latest article can be viewed by clicking here .

All residents in China's largely Muslim region of Xinjiang must hand in their passports to local police stations for "examination and management", according to Global Times, a state-funded newspaper . "Anyone who needs the passport must apply to the police station," an anonymous police officer in Aksu prefecture told the paper on Thursday, adding that the policy had been implemented throughout Xinjiang. The Global Times article followed numerous reports of tightened passport controls in cities across the region. The move is directed to further harass Muslim natives of Xinjiang , formerly East Turkestan. While the order covers everyone living in the area, many members of Xinjiang's more than 10 million-strong Muslim Uighur minority complain of discrimination - including denials of passport applications - as well as controls on their culture and religion. In mid-October, the public security bureau of Shihezi city posted a directive on a verified socia...

OIC special envoy to Myanmar, Syed Hamid Syed Albar said that Myanmar military’s attacks on Rohingya villages in Rakhine since Nov 12 had so far resulted in 428 deaths, 1,780 houses burned down and 35,000 people becoming refugees. He said the Myanmar government under the leadership of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi must stop the carnage by its military which had aroused anger among the international community, more so when the country was moving towards democracy. “There should be immediate action against this hatred (towards the Rohingya Muslims) which is akin to the Rwandan genocide (in Africa). Malaysia and other OIC (Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) countries in Asean should act together to resolve this issue. “We have no intention to interfere, but if we allow this carnage to go on, it’s not the answer. We need to act collectively,” he said. Asked if the Asean countries should open their doors and accept the entry of Rohingya refugees, he said it should be for ...

Myanmar is seeking the ethnic cleansing of the Muslim Rohingya minority from its territory, a senior UN official has told the BBC. Armed forces have been killing Rohingya in Rakhine state, forcing many to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh, says John McKissick of the UN refugee agency. The government of Myanmar, also known as Burma, has been conducting counter-insurgency operations since coordinated attacks on border guards in October. It denies reports of atrocities. Burmese officials say Rohingyas are setting fire to their own houses in northern Rakhine state. The BBC cannot visit the area to verify what is occurring there as journalists and aid workers have been barred. The Rohingya, who number about one million, are seen by many of Myanmar's Buddhist majority as illegal migrants from Bangladesh. 'Collective punishment' Although Bangladesh's official policy is not to allow in illegal entrants across the border, the foreign ministry has confirmed that thou...

More than 1,200 homes have been razed in villages inhabited by Myanmar's Muslim Rohingya minority in the past six weeks, Human Rights Watch says. The group has released a batch of new satellite images that it says show 820 structures were destroyed between 10-18 November. The military is conducting security operations in Rakhine but the government denies it is razing homes. The Rohingya are one of the world's most persecuted minority groups. Here is a report from BBC on the subject. As a result of Myanmar's latest genocidal pogroms many Rohingyas are trying to flee to nearby Bangladesh whose government is not keen on welcoming them either to avoid jeopardizing its not-so-warm relationship with Suu Kyi's Mogher mulluk - Myanmar. Here below is a report from the Reuters . Hundreds of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar crossed the border to Bangladesh over the weekend and on Monday, aid workers said, seeking shelter from escalating violence in the northwest that ha...

Here is a link to understand the politics of BJP of India (Dec. 2015). Here in this interview with Mehdi Hasan the former RSS leader and BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav says that his party (including RSS) considers that Pakistan and Bangladesh belongs to India.

Israel, the darling of the west, the so-called only democracy in the Middle-East, has been showing its another ugly side these days. She is trying to curtail religious freedom of Muslims by banning the call to Muslim prayer. At the beginning of the week, the Ministerial Committee for Legislation approved a bill Sunday evening to ban mosque muezzins from announcing prayer times via loudspeakers in the streets. The bill was submitted by MK Motti Yogev (Bayit Yehudi) and Robert Ilatov (Yisrael Beytenu) after numerous complaints from residents of various cities. The first call to prayer occurs at approximately four or five in the morning every day, disturbing the sleep of local residents. The bill passed an initial reading in the Knesset and then was passed on to the committee stage for further rounds of voting. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself voiced his broad agreement with the legislation. Some 2,000 protested on Friday against the " Muezzin Bill " in Kafr Qasim...

Tulsi Gabbard, Rep. (D) is a congresswoman from Hawaii. She met Donald Trump today. She is a Hindu neocon democrat who is for civilization war against Muslims worldwide. And as such, it was no accident that she did not support American involvement to curtail Russia's and Syria's slaughter of civilians there. American indifference in Syria has resulted in the massacre of 350 civilians just in the last two days. Aleppo, the oldest continuously lived/populated city on earth, has been bombed to utter ruins. There is not a single hospital standing intact to care for anyone there. Tulsi is an unabashed supporter of murderous Modi regime in India, which wants India to become a state for the Hindus only. Thus, while she is protective of India's interest and fascist Hindutvadi agenda, which has resulted in much suffering for the Christians and Muslims in India, she is gung-ho when it comes to Muslims! What double standards! So no one should be surprised that she is the...

Here below is the latest tally from the BROUK: On 9th October border guard police posts on the Burma Bangladesh border were attacked by armed men, and police officers were killed. In response the Burmese military launched a major crackdown, alleging Rohingya were responsible. Human rights violations include executions, arrests, beatings, torture, forced relocations, blocking of humanitarian aid, burning of homes and businesses, and the mass rape of ethnic Rohingya women. From 12th November the military dramatically escalated their attacks against Rohingya villages, using heavy weapons and helicopter gunships, killing and injuring hundreds of people and displacing 20,000 Rohingya in just one weekend.  Between 9th October to 20th November, BROUK has recorded the following estimates of abuses committed: Deaths: 428 Rohingya Rape: 192 Rohingya women Arrest: 440 Missing people: 120 Reports of beatings and physical violence: 160 Burnt down houses and buildings: 1780 ...

I have noted a few times that our world is increasingly becoming difficult for ordinary people. Fascist forces are making their lives unbearable, and they are too many, from one corner of the planet to another. In India, the situation is also dire for many minorities. "I thought the Muslims were the only anti nationals in this country. But I was mistaken. Earlier, thousands of people including even women and children who were questioning Koodankulam nuclear plant were declared as anti nationals. They are not the only ones outside the community of Muslims.  Over 11,000 NGOs in India are restricted from FCRA, while the Prime Minister himself has been flying around all the time for foreign funds. The technical and bureaucratic  reasons given by the government may not appear to be convincing enough for anybody who studies the subject. Majority of the NGOs who are targeted belong to the Christian groups. But there is no word of resistance from the Christian leaders. They are ...

As the Rohingyas of Myanmar face new genocidal pogroms against them by the Myanmar military and Border Guard Police, they are seemingly caught between a Myanmar crocodile and a Bengal tiger. Instead of giving them asylum, Bangladesh Government is pushing them back to their homeland where they face extinction. It is simply shameful and inexcusable! I am shocked! See the report on the sufferings in the Daily Star by clicking here .

The news below is from RB News: =========== More Rohingya women believed to have been raped by the Myanmar Military and Border Guard Police (BGP) were discovered in Kyet Yoe Pyin village on November 18th, 2016. A group of Rohingya villagers were killed in Du Dan village on November 19th.  On November 18th, 2016 at 5:30 AM the military and BGP surrounded Kyet Yoe Pyin, Nga Sar Kyu and U Shey Kya villages, and then raided them shortly after. The security forces arrived in the morning and remained stationed there until around midnight, according to local villagers.  Initial reports from the villagers claimed that three women were raped but later on more victims were discovered. The villagers confirmed that a total of eight girls were raped by the military and BGP. The victims were as young as 11 years old. Other victims were said to be 13, 15, 16, and 17 years old. Two of the victims are considered to be in very critical condition, a local woman informed RB News . ...

With the latest presidential election results in the USA, 2016 is proving to be a bonanza year for the right-wing extremists everywhere, or so it seems these days. The next year, 2017, may even look better for them. Amid a migrant crisis, sluggish economic growth and growing disillusionment with the European Union, far-right parties have been achieving electoral success in a number of European nations, e.g., Hungary, Austria, Poland, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, France, Slovakia, Romania and Switzerland. Even Germany, Greece, Italy and Cyprus are not far behind in seeing the resurgence of anti-immigrant, far right, populist parties. Last September, the Alternative for Germany party, which started three years ago as a protest movement against the euro currency, took second place in the Legislature in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the home state of Chancellor Angela Merkel. The party attracts voters who are anti-establishment, anti-liberalization, anti-European, or more...