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Girls' Education held hostage: Over a third of girls schools destroyed or closed in Swat area of Pakistan It has only been nine months since the Swat region of Pakistan, just 90 miles from Islamabad, fell to the Taliban. One of the main casualties of the Taliban takeover in this area of Pakistan has been girl's education. Last month alone, 39 girls' schools were damaged or destroyed by fire or bombs, courtesy of the Taliban, and the attacks continue unabated. This week, yet another girl's school was damaged, this time by a bomb, which destroyed 10 classrooms and two offices, and damaged nearby homes. According to an article in Pakistan's Dawn newspaper, the local Taliban spokesman blames the attacks on a "third party". The newspaper reported that Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan claims that the Taliban in the area did not oppose education for girls in general, but did oppose the current educational system for females in Pakistan claiming it teaches "obscenity" and promotes "indecency". Current estimates are that over 17,000 girls have had their education interrupted, and the best estimates are that at least 131 schools have been damaged to the point where they cannot function. At least 62 more girls' schools have been closed because of the violence as well as threats to female staff members. Another ten schools are currently closed because they have been occupied by Pakistani security forces. There are a total of 566 girls school in Swat. Four of then are higher secondary schools, 22 are high schools, 51 are middle schools, and 489 are primary schools. So upwards of a quarter of the girls schools in the area are out of commission. Traditionally education for girls falls far behind that for young men, Male literacy rates stand at just under 53% while female literacy is just under 23 percent. Olympics in the crosshairs: Al Qaeda ally releases video threatening Beijing Olympcs Islamist elements affiliated with Al Qaeda have had this summer's Olympics games in Beijing clearly in the crosshairs for some time. Further evidence of this emerged this weekendin the form of a video posted on the internet from the Turkistan Islamic Party (also known as ETIM or the East Turkistan Islamic Movement) Ihreatening the 2008 Olympics Games in Beijing. The video features the Commander of the Turkistan Islamic Party, Sayfallah, making very specific threats against the XXIX Olympiad. Sayfallah states that his group is warning China one more time, threatening to attack key points related to the Olympics Games. He explicitly states that the group plans to attack Chinese cities using previously unused methods. Sayfallah issued a stern warning: "This is our last warning to China and the rest of the world. The viewers and athletes, especially those who are Muslim, who plan to go to the Olympics should change their plans and not go to China. The Turkistan Islamic Party plans military attacks on people, offices, arenas, and other activities that are connected to the Chinese Olympic Games." He claimed the group had undergone special training and has already begun it's operations against China, including bomb attacks two busses in Shanghai in May and three busses last week in Yunnan. He also took credit for an attack on police forces in Wenzhou with an explosives-laden tractor and the attack with explosives on a plastics factory. Chinese authorities have recognized for some time the threat from the organization, and has actively prepared for terror attacks against the Games. Last week, an anti-terrorism manual was released to the public. People were urged to remain calm in the event of any attack and to notify authorities by text message. The Xinhua news agency reported an excerpt from the manual advised people that they might "also have to hide your mobile phones if kidnapped by terrorists," Xinhua reported that the manual covers a wide range of possible attacks, including explosions, shootings, hijacking and even chemical or nuclear attacks. In today's message, Sayfallah promised to used "methods that have not previously been used. It is unknown if the group has chemical, radiological, biological, or nuclear capabilities but given it's affiliation with Al Qaeda, the possibility must be considered. In March of this year, at least one plot targeting the games was busted up by Chinese security forces in a raid in the Turkestan region. Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region is the Chinese term for Chinese Turkestan, which has been battling an Al Qaeda-linked jihadist group called the East Turkestan Islamic Movement. ETIM is recognized by the US, China, Kazakhstan, and the United Nations as a terror group. The US State Department stated in its 2005 annual report on terrorism that ETIM waslink to Al Qaeda, and that Al Qaeda provided the group with training and funding. In 2002, the Chinese government claimed that the group's founder, Hasan Mahsum, met with Bin Laden and received funds from the terror leaders. The Chinese also claimed that Bin Laden exported dozens of terrorists to China to assist ETIM efforts. (Mahsum was killed in 2003 by Pakistani forces.) Further evidence of the jihadist link is found in the evidence recovered by police when the group planning the Beijing attack was raided. "Extremist religious ideological materials" were located along with guns, homemade bombs, and training material. Turkestan has been referenced by Al Qaeda leaders in numerous messages, most recently in a message from Al Qaeda second-in-command Dr. Ayman al Zawahiri in part 2 of his "Town Hall" question and answer session, released in April of this year: Concerning the United Nations, the program demanded reforming the United Nations so that it will be based on the principles of sound international democracy, which the program calls for, without presenting the theories on the rule of the strong. This means that the program agrees that the UN resolutions are adopted by the majority of members. This is an acceptance of two serious things. The first is the acceptance of non-sharia rules, and the second is acceptance of resolutions that the UN members agreed on by a majority, such as the decision to partition Palestine in 1947 and the decision to accept Israel's membership in the United Nations, thus forcing all UN members, according to the UN Charter, to respect its sovereignty and the territorial integrity of its territory. This contradicts with what the program mentioned concerning the duty of liberating the entire Palestinian territory. Indeed, this is not confined to Palestine but it transcends it to recognizing all the UN member states that have transgressed on the territories of Muslims; that is, recognizing Russia's sovereignty over the Muslim Caucasus, the sovereignty of the Philippines on its Muslim south, the sovereignty of India over Kashmir until the referendum takes place, which the international powers will not allow, the sovereignty of China on eastern Turkistan, and the sovereignty of Spain over Ceuta and Milella, and indeed on the entire Andalusia, and so on. The Turkistan front was also referenced by Zawahiri in his message of March 11, 2007: The first question is: Who gave the killers the right to appoint judges to interfere in the affairs of Muslims? By what right the Security Council interferes in the affairs of Muslims and forms courts, which acquit this and convict that, while the hands of their criminals are stained with Muslims' blood in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Algeria, Chechnya, and East Turkestan? How does America refer the Darfur case to an international court which it does not recognize and refuses to be subject to it? What injustice is governing this world. The second question is: If you want to try those who term criminals in Darfur, who will try the criminals in Bosnia, Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Chechnya, Kashmir, Indonesia, Philippines, and East Turkestan? Who will try Bush, Blair, Putin, and Sharon? Who will try the villains who are shedding our blood and violating our sanctities on a daily basis, which is many times more than what was committed in Darfur? Who will try Mubarak, Al Sa'ud, Bouteflika, Zine El Abidine, and Bin-al-Husayn, and Musharraf? In November 2006, a video was released by Al Fajr highlighting activities of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement. (A copy of the video is available upon request.) A number of other videos from the group are available for viewing on YouTube. And the cartoon jihad continues. The Taliban has ordered a newspaper editor to "repent" and the editor has received death threats after publishing a cartoon showing a woman in a burqa ordering her students to embark in jihad and embrace martyrdom. But this time the newspaper is not in Europe; instead it is the Daily Times, the well-respected English language newspaper in Pakistan and its sister publication Aaj Kal And the editor whose life is being threatened is an award-winning Pakistani Muslim, Najam Sethi. Sethi published a cartoon satirizing Umme Hassan, who is the principal of a radical madrassa for females. But Umme Hassan has powerful friends it seems. She is the wife of Abdul Aziz, the prayer leader of the Lal Masjid. Abdul Aziz has been in jail since last summer when the Pakistani security forces raided the Lal Masjod. Umme Hassan has declared cartoon "blasphemous" and claims it reaches the same level as the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohamed. Apparently the threat is being taken seriously to the point that Sethi says he's been encouraged by authorities to stay out of Pakistan until the incident dies down. Sethi reportedly declined to leave the country. Sethi's home and office are under heavy guard. Security officials in Pakistan pointed out that individual soldiers involved in the raid on the Lal Masjid last summer had been targeted in attacks. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? 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