IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, THE MOST KIND, THE MOST MERCIFUL
Archive for March, 2012
JIMAS event Mon 9 Apr 2012 (bank holiday)
March 28, 2012Interview with a Syrian opposition activist
March 11, 2012Bismillah. Better late than never. The following is a brief interview conducted on 26th Ramadan 1432 (26th August 2011) with a Syrian journalist & opposition activist, Mohammad Fizou. The questions and mobile phone number (registered in Turkey) of the interviewee were supplied by a UK-based journalist. The line was quite poor, hence the brief interview.
1. You coordinate the Syrian Army Defectors’ Facebook page. How many defectors are there in total?
We have 8,000 people on our Facebook page. There is much more information on there about our members.
2. Which city do you come from?
I am from Ladhiqiyyah (Latakia).
3. What makes the defectors choose to do so?
They defected from the army (there are over 7,000 of them) because they were ordered to fire with machine-guns at unarmed, civilian protesters.
4. Have ex-soldiers been the only ones shooting at & killing army regulars, or have protestors engaged in violence against the regime at all?
The only people killing soldiers have been the regime’s people. They killed soldiers who refused to shoot at civilians, and blamed it on the protesters in order to give the world media the impression that the regime had been attacked by the protesters.
5. Do you want a no-fly zone like in Libya, or will you and your men be able to fight against the regime yourselves?
We have about 7,000 men but the regime has many times that number, as is well-known. Therefore, we need as much support and help as possible. The Syrian regime’s aircraft have been bombing civilian protesters, so any action that will stop them will be very important.
6. There are different groups of ex-soldiers, such as the Free Officers’ Movement led by Hussain Harmoush and the Free Syrian Army led by Col. Rifal al-Assad. Is there any plan for them all to come together and form a united army against the regime?
These movements all have the same aim, and therefore they are united in purpose. They tend to be regional, i.e. composed of defectors from different parts of the country. The regime tries to make out that we are disunited, but we are not. We all have the same demands, as the protesters do: stop the killing; stop the massacres; let us have reform.
7. How credible are the Turkish Army’s threats to establish a safety zone inside Syria? Will this affect the revolution, do you think?
Turkey is a friendly country, as are its people and its army. We would welcome help from any friendly countries, such as Turkey or Britain, since they would not be invading or occupying our country. But Turkish soldiers have not entered Syria. The Syrians have fired repeatedly on Turkish troops and have even launched rockets into Turkish territory, but the Turks have not retaliated. The Turks gave the Syrians a 15-day ultimatum to stop firing on them – this expired yesterday evening (25th August 2011), but the Turks haven’t taken any action in response.
Thank you for your time & answers.
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True Story of a Survivor of Terrorism – Sayra Mobeen
March 3, 2012Bismillah.
This relates to the twin suicide attacks at the International Islamic University of Islamabad in October 2009. One of the targets was the women students’ cafeteria. (Here is BBC and Guardian coverage.) An injured survivor of that attack has written a brief piece about her experience, over two years later.
I received this from Major (Retd.) Tahir Wadood Malik, who was featured along with IIUI survivors in a moving Channel 4 Dispatches documentary about terrorism in Islamabad: City of Fear. His comments are given below, followed by Sayra’s story.
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Sayra Mobeen is a student at the International Islamic University at Islamabad. she was badly injured in the twin suicide attacks in the university on 20th October 2009.
The extent of trauma can be seen by the fact that it has taken her over two years and lots of persuasion to write her story.
May Allah help us all to overcome this menace of extremism that we are faced with in Pakistan, aamin.
If you have any comments or want to send her a message, these will be passed on to Sayra Mobeen.
Thank you Sayra, our prayers, and support for you and your friends will always be there.
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Victims & survivors of terrorism, please come together to ‘speak truth to terror’
Pakistan Terrorism Survivors Network, Islamabad, Pakistan
http://paktsn.webs.com/
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True Story of a Blast Victim
SAYRA MOBEEN
Student BBA (Honors)
Islamic International University Islamabad
The morning of 20 0ctober 2009 was delightful and astonishing for me not for the country; I was happy to go to classes for my studies and be with my friends. Ignoring the years of unending dilemma of Pakistan facing the threat of terrorism; that every face showed pain did not matter to me.
I am not a keen follower of the news, and that is why I could not feel the pain people faced by being in a bomb blast, or of losing a loved one in a terrorist attack.
The twin blasts in my University that day changed my life, as it was the first strike on women students in Islamabad. This incident left deep effect on my life. Bringing me face to face with a disaster which in its wake brought a lot of challenges for me.
Sadly I am a victim of that incident, and have been lucky to survive to tell my story, and look at life in a different perspective.
I remember that day after classes I came back in my hostel room at about 2:45 pm. My friend Umme Kalsoom came to my room and asked me to accompany her to the cafeteria, so I got up and we left.
We went to the cafeteria fruit shop but they had sold out the fruit etc. I don’t know why we were in hurry that day to go in the café, as we both ignored our class fellows who were sitting outside the café asking us to join them, and entered the main hall of the cafeteria.
We bought salad and some other eatables and sat inside the café on the left side of the hall, we still did not join our friends outside! We realized that we had not bought soft drinks so I went and bought these.
As I reached near the fountain in the hall, on my way back to our table, I suddenly heard a dreadful sound, and saw lots of smoke; my ears were deafened. I felt as if I had been hit by something forcefully. I was disoriented and fell down. The pain made me realize I was hurt and I could feel the pain on my body, arms, legs, forehead and chest. Later I found that the major injuries I received were on my chest.
Humble thanks to Almighty Allah that I was in my senses and tried to walk away from the cafeteria to save myself, but could not. I then saw my friends coming back to look for me; my shirt was full of blood which was coming from the wounds on my head and chest; when Umme Kulsoom she saw me in this critical condition she started crying.
I asked Umme Kulsoom to look for my cell phone which I lost in this melee so I could call my family, she asked a female employee of café to look after me while she went to look for help.
I was feeling afraid because of the blast not for the pain or my injuries. The café staff told me I had severe injuries so I should go to the hospital, and tried to put me in a taxi, I refused because I did not want to go alone by taxi. The staff then left me and walked away, which hurt me more. I missed my family and friends and started to cry.
In the meanwhile my friends came looking for me, and picked me up, I was in great pain, and they took me to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences. The doctors decided to undertake surgery because of the nature of my injuries. I was very afraid because I knew my family was not with me, and I did not know what would be the result of the operation. But that is perhaps what saved my life.
After initial treatment in the PIMS and in view of the nature of my injuries, I was sent to the Combined Military Hospital at Mangla Cantonment for treatment. I underwent treatment at Mangla and suffered lots of pain and surgical interventions, for approximately four months. During this period my family and I suffered a lot, as they had to arrange for a place to live at Mangla, and commute from Abbottabad to Mangla regularly.
My injuries were similar to the injuries that soldiers receive in the battle field. The doctors at Mangla took great pains to remove the pieces of shrapnel and other stuff in my body, but even then, they could not remove all, and some non-life-threatening pieces of the material that was used in the suicide jacket, are still in my body and will remain in me for my life. It hurts at times, but at least I am alive.
As I said I did not pay attention to news of bomb blasts when I saw it on television or read about this in the newspapers, therefore I could not assess the pain of others; especially those who suffered during terrorist or suicide attacks.
Since my ordeal, I can recognize the pain and difficulties of survivors and victims’ like me, and Alhamdolillah I can empathize with them and help them in their recovery from trauma.
This unpleasant incident did not close the door of life on me; it showed me the other and pleasant direction of life. I am happy, and grateful to Allah that I am passing my life normally, thanks to my family, friends, and many other people who helped me recover, and this has strengthened my belief in the saying that “obstacles come in life to polish one, or make one like a diamond.”
UNITY 