Proud to be married to champion of Indians, says Uthaya's wife

ISIS fighters enter Kobani: reports

Reuters

SURUC Turkey/BEIRUT: ISIS fighters entered the Syrian town of Kobani near the Turkish border, a CNN editor said Friday.

CNN editor Ram Ramgopal tweeted that Alan Minbic, a Kurdish fighter, told the network that jihadists had entered the southwestern edges of the besieged town, known as Ain al-Arab in Arabic.

Meanwhile, Kurdish fighters defending Kobani warned of a likely massacre by ISIS insurgents as the Islamists encircled the town with tanks and bombarded its outskirts with artillery fire.

Turkey said it would do what it could to prevent Kobani, a predominantly Kurdish town just over its southern border, from falling into ISIS hands but stopped short of committing to any direct military intervention.

U.S.-led forces have been bombing ISIS targets in Syria and Iraq but the action has done little to stop their advance in northern Syria towards the Turkish border, piling pressure on Ankara to intervene.

Esmat al-Sheikh, head of the Kurdish forces defending Kobani, said the distance between his fighters and the insurgents was now less than one km (half a mile).

"We are in a small, besieged area. No reinforcements reached us and the borders are closed," he told Reuters by phone. "My expectation is for general killing, massacres and destruction ... There is bombardment with tanks, artillery, rockets and mortars."

ISIS has earned a reputation for extreme violence, carrying out widespread killings including beheadings in the Syrian and Iraqi territory it has seized.

Two large clouds of smoke rose up to the east of Kobani and there were several loud explosions from further inside the town as shelling continued and gunfire rang out, a Reuters correspondent on the Turkish side of the border said.

Fighters from the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) tried to push the insurgents back, firing missiles lit up by bright red tracers from the town and striking ISIS targets in a village a few kilometers to the east.

The frontlines between the Kurds and ISIS, a Sunni Muslim group still commonly known by its former acronyms of ISIS and ISIL, are fluid.

Idris Nassan, deputy foreign minister in a local Kurdish administration, said the YPG had been able to blunt ISIS gains over the past two days on the southeastern front.

"There are clashes every minute of the day. The YPG pushed ISIS back yesterday in the southeast of Kobani. ISIS were two km from Kobani (to the southeast) but they are now four km," he said. "From time to time there are shells by ISIS that reach the center of the city. Three hours ago there was a bomb that landed in Kobani. I haven’t heard about casualties."

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the eastern, western and southern fronts had not seen significant changes since Thursday, when ISIS fighters tightened their grip around Kobani.

But that at least 25 shells had hit the town, coupled with heavy clashes on the eastern and southeastern fronts on Friday.

TURKEY "NOT AT FAULT"

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Turkey would do what it could to prevent Kobani from falling to ISIS but stopped short of committing to the sort of military intervention that the Kurds have been crying out for.

"We wouldn't want Kobani to fall. We'll do whatever we can to prevent this from happening," Davutoglu said in a discussion with journalists broadcast on the A Haber television station.

Parliament gave the government powers on Thursday to order cross-border military incursions against ISIS, and to allow forces of the U.S.-led foreign coalition to launch similar operations from Turkish territory.

But Davutoglu appeared to pull back from any suggestion that this meant Turkey was planning a military incursion, saying such a move could drag Ankara into a wider conflict along its 900 km (560-mile) border.

"Some are saying 'Why aren't you protecting Kurds in Kobani?' If the Turkish armed forces enter Kobani and the Turkmens from Yayladag ask 'why aren't you saving us?', we would have to go there as well," he said, referring to another ethnic minority in Syria across from a Turkish border town.

"When the Arab citizens across from Reyhanli say 'why don't you save us as well", we'd have to go there too."

Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz was also quoted as telling reporters that it would be wrong to expect imminent military action after the parliamentary motion passed.

Ankara fears military intervention could deepen the insecurity on its border by strengthening Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and bolster Kurdish fighters linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a three-decade insurgency against the Turkish state.

Jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan said on Wednesday peace talks between his group and Turkey would collapse if ISIS militants are allowed to carry out a massacre in Kobani.

Davutoglu said it was wrong to link the two issues. "If Kobani falls, Turkey is not at fault. If Kobani falls, this shouldn't be tied to the solution process (with the PKK)."

SIGNS OF PROGRESS IN IRAQ

ISIS has carved out swathes of eastern Syria and western Iraq in a drive to create a cross-border caliphate between the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers, terrifying communities into submission by slaughtering those who resist.

The United States has been carrying out air strikes in Iraq against the militant group since July and in Syria since last week with the help of Arab allies. Britain and France have also struck ISIS targets in Iraq.

There have been some successes on the ground. In Iraq, Sunni tribes have joined pro-government forces in recent days for several major battles against the militants. The Shi'ite-led government in Baghdad and the United States hope this is a sign of increasing cooperation across sectarian lines to save the country.

When ISIS fighters tried to storm the Tigris River town of Dhuluiya north of Baghdad this week, they were repelled by a rare coalition of Sunni tribal fighters inside the town and Shi'ites in its sister city Balad on the opposite bank.

Further north, another powerful Sunni tribe fought alongside Kurdish forces to drive ISIS fighters from Rabia, a town controlling one of the main border checkpoints used by fighters pouring in from Syria.

Village by village, Kurdish forces in northern Iraq have regained around half the territory they gave up in August when ISIS militants tore through their defenses in the northwest, prompting the United States to launch airstrikes in September, its first since 2011.

Turkey insists the air strikes alone will not contain the ISIS threat, and wants simultaneous action to be taken against Assad's government, including the creation of a no-fly zone on the Syrian side of the border.

"You know what will happen if there isn’t a no-fly zone? ISIL bases will be bombed and then the Syrian regime, Assad, who has committed all those massacres, believing that he is now legitimate, will bide his time and bomb Aleppo," Davutoglu said.

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2014/Oct-03/272872-isis-fighters-enter-kobani-reports.ashx#ixzz3F7m6N8Mh
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Radicalised teen Numan Haider launched ‘frenzied’ attack on police

The Australian

A CORONER has heard how radicalised teenager Numan Haider launched into an immediate and frenzied stabbing attack when approached by two counter-terrorism officers who yelled at him to drop his knife.

Haider, who had expressed support for the Islamic State by carrying their flag at a suburban Melbourne shopping centre, was fatally shot last week after going to meet members of a Victorian and federal police joint counter-terrorism task force outside the Endeavour Hills

police station.

Coroner John Olle today held the first directions hearing of his probe into the 18-year old’s death.

Counsel assisting the coroner, Jessica Wilby, told the court Haider had gone to the police station at the request of the counter-terrorism team to talk about the cancellation of his passport.

Authorities had been monitoring Haider for several weeks as he displayed increasingly radical behaviour, and feared he would try to join the dozens of Australians fighting for jihadist forces in Iraq and Syria.

Haider had attended lectures at the al-Furqan Islamic centre which was the centre of counter-terrorism raids in 2012.

Ms Wilby said Haider called the AFP officer he had been dealing with at 7.30pm on September 23 to say he was outside the police station, in the carpark of the neighbouring child care centre.

As the AFP officer and a Victoria Police colleague left the station and approached Haider, they noticed he had his hand in his jacket pocket.

They asked him to remove his hand, and he did so — revealing a knife clasped in his fist.

Haider then swiftly launched an attack on the Victoria Police officer, stabbing him in the arm.

The officer fell backwards and Haider moved on to the AFP officer, stabbing him repeatedly in the head and chest.

The Victoria Police officer commanded Haider to drop his weapon, but the frenzied attack continued, prompting the officer to shoot a single fatal round to the teenager’s head.

Haider was pronounced dead at 8.07pm.

He was still clutching the knife in his hand when other police officers arrived to investigate the scene.

The names of the two police officers have been suppressed due to fears for their safety.

Today Mr Olle also suppressed the names and images of the Haider family, hearing they had received death threats since the attack.

Haider’s father and brother attended the brief directs hearing.

Mr Olle said he wanted to provide independent answers to “grieving families” and the community.

“The particular sensitivity surrounding this incident demands the utmost public confidence in the coronial jurisdiction as an independent investigative authority,” he said.

“It is important to remember there are three Victorian families directly involved in this incident.”

Victoria Police acting sergeant Neil Smith, who is leading the homicide investigation, told the court 35 witness statements had already been obtained, with 40 statements still to come.

Results of toxicology, pathology, forensic and ballistic tests are still pending.

CCTV footage of the surrounding area is also being reviewed.

The coroner will receive a brief of the evidence in January ahead of an inquest date yet to be fixed.

Surendran bids to refer sedition case to High Court

 

Padang Serai member of parliament N Surendran today filed an application to refer the sedition case pending against him in the Sessions Court to the High Court.

The accused, represented by counsel Lateefa Koya, said he was seeking the court to determine whether there were any constitutional issues in his sedition case, that should be appropriately dealt with by the High Court.

Judge Ahmad Bache set Oct 15 to hear Surendran's application.

Meanwhile, deputy public prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin told the court that the prosecution would file preliminary objections against the application.

The accused was charged on Aug 28 with making a seditious statement relating to opposition chief Anwar Ibrahim’s second sodomy case.

Surendran, 48, allegedly committed the offence through YouTube at the Palace of Justice, Precinct 3, Putrajaya between 2pm and 4pm on Aug 8.

The charge under Section 4(1)(b) of the Sedition Act 1948, carries a maximum three years’ imprisonment or RM5,000 fine or both, upon conviction.

- Bernama

Whose country was this? Whose is it now?

We cannot move forward as a country until we sort out who we were and who we are. These questions lead to an unsettled debate on the impartiality of state: should this country treat everyone the same?

Wong Chin Huat

Let’s first accept a fact: there is not a single version of history. Never, not in any country.

Granted, official history – that appears in official documents and is taught in primary and secondary school classrooms – cannot afford to have many versions. The single version therefore should be as far as possible inclusive to do justice to all parties.

Why Malaysia is not Malacca’s successor

In the state’s official narratives, Malaysia is simply a successor state of the Malaccan sultanate.

I consider that a distortion because the Malaccan sultanate never extended its power across the South China Sea, even at its height.

The north coast of Borneo Island – namely, what we today call Sarawak, Brunei and Sabah – was nominally the territories of the Brunei sultanate, with the Sulu sultanate later making some claims on east coast of Sabah.

To me, the official history is a distortion because it hides the fact that today’s West Malaysia and East Malaysia were never ruled by the same power before the British.

Malaysia is largely and was intended to be the successor state of British Southeast Asia – officially known as British Malaya (including Singapore) and British Borneo.

Our modern boundaries are largely the result of the British, the Dutch and the Siamese self-dividing their imperial realms.

I can understand why and how my more inclusive narrative of Malaysian history is inconvenient and troublesome for many parties with vested interests because it leads to at least two implications.

First, in designing and debating the nation’s future, we cannot just look at certain periods of ancient history and overlook the more immediate periods that shaped us into what we are today, especially for Sarawak and Sabah. They became a political entity only during and because of the rule of the Brooke dynasty and the British North Borneo Company.

Second, our anti-colonial discourse was not as straightforward as per the official narrative. Our founding fathers were both collaborators and opponents to the British. They were not anti-colonial throughout.

Who owns the state?

A Muslim Dusun reader from Sabah reacted angrily towards my interpretation of history. He saw it as a deliberate attempt to erase the Malayness of Malaysia and to deny historical continuity.

This is completely untrue. I always see Nusantara (for me, maritime Southeast Asia which stretches from Aceh in northwest to Luzon in northeast and Timor in southeast) as a civilisational zone, on which post-colonial states were built.

I recognise that migration within the region before the emergence of nation-states was very common. I also recognise that Malay has been the lingua franca in the region for millennia.

I want to take my Dusun friend’s concern to a larger and more normative question in the context of nation-building and multiculturalism: how impartial should a state – in this case, Malaysia – be?

In simple terms, should the state treat everyone the same? This comes back to a more fundamental question: who owns the state?

A universalist view would see the state as a common possession of all citizens, therefore the state should treat everyone equally. This is now the global norm, at least for countries that call themselves democracies.

However, if some segment of population can be unreasonably denied citizenship – in the extreme form, they could be treated as slaves, which was the norm in many countries till two centuries ago – then equal treatment for citizens becomes hollow.

Hence, equality and inclusion would demand that citizenship be extended maximally to all residents who are willing to pledge their loyalty to the state.

Can new citizens shape the nation-state’s identity?

But as immigration becomes more prevalent, this poses a threat to the existing citizens of a state: will they be overwhelmed by newcomers?

Malaysians are so familiar with ethno-centrist calls of “Balik Tongsan” or “Balik India” that some may think this is exclusively our problem. It is not.

The fear of immigrants is in human nature. From neighbouring Singapore to Hong Kong, to Europe, America and Australia, immigrants are faced with hostility and discrimination.

To begin with, immigration is a very powerful self-selection process to produce the fittest survivors – the meek would not start their journey or might not make it.

Immigrants are therefore often hardworking, tough and determined to achieve a better life. Their competitiveness and aggression then often force the less competitive ones among the existing population out of jobs or businesses or university enrolments, even though the economy as a whole may become wealthier because of the immigrants. This is the interest-based resentment.

But immigrants are also different culturally, linguistically and religiously. They change the social fabric and cultural landscape of the nation-state, making it different and strange. This is the identity-based resentment.

Combining the interest and identity aspects, you can then have at least four basic positions on immigrants: first, reject them (no citizenship); second, accept them but force them to be assimilated (assimilationist equal citizenship); third, accept but constrain them if they refuse to be assimilated (assimilation-driven differentiated citizenship) ; fourth, accept them and celebrate diversity (multiculturalist equal citizenship).

In Malaysia, the debate is all the while dominated by the third and fourth positions, with the first position now increasingly voiced out by the Malay-Muslim ultra-nationalists.

What is problematic is that identity- and interest-based arguments against equal citizenship are entangled together and protected from rational reflection and scholarly examination by draconian laws like the Sedition Act.

For Malaysia to move on, we will need to disentangle and debate the issues and contentions in nuanced ways. Here I would attempt to deal with the identity concern.

State impartiality – to what degree?

The state’s cultural identity is mainly manifested in two ways: religion and language.

Between the two, religion is older and more intense in shaping the form and boundaries of states.

But there is a commonality as to why states are inherently tempted to wed themselves to religion and language: they help to homogenise the population in thought and facilitate control. One argument for state impartiality is therefore to reduce control and advance freedom.

If state impartiality is preferred, how impartial should it be? A maximal position is to completely exclude religion from state affairs to ensure impartiality. No religion should have its explicit influences in state laws and policies, or receive state aid.

As states cannot operate without any language, a comparable maximal position in language would be creating as many as feasible official languages. The best examples are perhaps India (as a national-state) and the European Union (as a supranational state).

In Malaysia, multiculturalism is often seen as pursuing these two extreme ends, and hence making the nation a faceless entity with no specific historical ties, which is unacceptable for the Malay-Muslim majority.

Preservation of the religious and linguistic roots of the state governing a multi-ethnic population then naturally takes the form of dismissing state impartiality.

That Malaysia is commonly owned by all Malaysians become politically incorrect and even legally seditious. To me, the delegitimation of state impartiality is the “intellectual” basis of Ketuanan Melayu in the post-colonial contestation of nationhood.

In religious field, its variant “Ketuanan Muslim” goes on to deny that Malaysia is a secular state by defining secularism in the maximum, like France or the United States – which Malaysia cannot be.

Malaysia’s secularism is modelled on the United Kingdom, where the monarch is the patron of the national religion – the Anglican Church – and 26 bishops sitting in the House of Lords, but the Church does not dictate state policies. Any wonder why we don’t read about British non-Christians’ resentment against the Anglican Church?

In this soft form of secularism, the state is not impartial, only impartial in dealing with citizens. The state has a religion but it does not impose it on its citizens. This was in fact very much the essence of the Westphalian notion of secularism to end the wars between the Catholics and the Protestants.

Taking this Westphalian notion of soft state impartiality to language, this would mean the state can promote Bahasa Melayu as the national language but the speakers of other languages should not be unreasonably discriminated against.

But making a Westphalian settlement work requires effort and trust from both sides. A Westphalian-neutral state should receive full support from all in upholding its non-threatening cultural identity.

The advocates of a multicultural Malaysia should therefore be comfortable in believing both that “Malaysia belongs to all Malaysians today” and “Malaysia was the lands of Malays and the indigenous tribes”.

They should enthusiastically embrace both the Malay language and linguistic freedom, and support Islam insofar as religious freedom is fully respected.

On a personal note, I would like to thank my Dusun friend, mondouotogod, a long-time critic of this column, for pushing me into starting my Bahasa Melayu column in August. – October 3, 2014.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.
- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/opinion/wong-chin-huat/article/whose-country-was-this-whose-is-it-now#sthash.wzms2cpN.dpuf

Waytha’s prayers for Uthaya

“Our paths may have differed, and may still differ to an extent, but we are equally committed to ending the marginalisation of the minorities and ending entrenched racial policies.”

KUALA LUMPUR: Hindraf Makkal Sakthi chairman P. Waythamoorthy, in openly conceding for the first time a parting of ways in the past with his elder brother P. Uthayakumar, has reiterated that the latter should not have been charged under the Sedition Act and incarcerated for speaking the truth.

“The letter he wrote to then British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was a statement of truth and we in Hindraf maintain this fact,” said Waytha who was briefly a Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and Senator after the 13th General Elections in May last year.

“We have always held that the Government should initiate an independent inquiry into the truth of Uthaya’s allegations on the plight of the marginalised and the underclass.”

Waytha was welcoming the release of Uthaya from prison after a long stretch.

Waytha pointed out that Uthaya’s jailing under the Sedition Act after having been released from detention under the draconian Internal Security Act (ISA) was double punishment for him.

“It was mean, vicious and vindictive of the government,” said Waytha. “It was to silence him, thwart his struggle for the marginalised and underclass and prevent him from developing the Human Rights Party Malaysia (HRPM) as an alternative voice in politics.”

The younger brother remains convinced that the jail sentence will not prevent his elder brother from speaking up on behalf of the voiceless, the poor and marginalised. He has always shown courage and determination in championing the plight of the underclass, he added.

“Our paths may have differed, and may still differ to an extent, but we are equally committed to ending the marginalisation of the minorities and ending the entrenched racial policies that have caused so much misery in the lives of so many,” cried Waytha.

Uthaya can now take time to rest and spend quality time with family and true friends.

P. Uthayakumar began his political career with the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) which despite its call for reformasi went on to distance itself from him and label him a “racist”.

He then formed Parti Reformasi Insan Malaysia, the forerunner of HRPM.

He also formed an NGO, Police Watch to keep a watch on extra judicial killings of youths, many Indians, and deaths in police custody.

Penang village re-zoned by PR, not Gerakan

Gerakan’s Oh Tong Keong says it was PR and not BN that re-zoned the heritage village into commercial land.

GEORGE TOWN: Penang Gerakan secretary Oh Tong Keong said today that it was the Pakatan Rakyat state government that sub-divided the Siamese-Burmese village land in Pulau Tikus and earmarked the settlement as a commercial zone in December last year.

“So the allegation that the previous BN government under Gerakan re-zoned the village into a commercial area was a lie,” Oh told newsmen at the Gerakan office here today.

He said both Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and Pulau Tikus assemblywoman Yap Soo Huey had misled the villagers by saying otherwise.

Oh said under the state Heritage Enactment 2011, the state government had the powers to gazette the area as a heritage zone.

“If the state government does not have the power, how did it reject a developer’s application for planning permission to demolish and redevelop the village twice, in 2009 and 2010?” he asked.

He pointed out that the Penang Island Municipal Council had also rejected developer Airmas Development Sdn Bhd’s application for planning permission in 2008.

“If the state government was sincere and honest, it could easily gazette the village as a heritage site,” said Oh.

Oh also explained that all the previous Barisan Nasional government did was re-zone the land in 1996 as a religious-cultural and commercial zone to mirror the development of the area then.

He said the 5,457sq metre village land was sub-divided to lots 10029 and 10030 under a micro-zoning process last year.

The village has an open space, a Burmese trust building and a row of shophouses.

After the sub-division exercise, Lot 10029 comprised the village and shophouses and Lot 10030, the Burmese trust building and open space.

DAP: Sexist, chauvinistic attacks have to stop

The party lodges a report with the MCMC over statements against its young Malay recruits.

SHAH ALAM: DAP today denounced what it called “offensive, distasteful and disrespectful” remarks against party recruits Dyana Sofea; Syefura Othman, better known as Rara; and Jamila Rahim, also known as Melati.

Speaking to reporters after lodging a complaint with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) today, the party’s National Legal Bureau Chairman, Gobind Singh Deo, spoke of two statements that “crossed the line and have personally affected Dyana, Rara and Melati.”

He said the statements contained remarks that were in “direct offence” of Section 3(3) of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.

“We hope for an expedited investigation,” he said.

One of the statements was featured in MyKMU.net under the title “Melati better off being a prostitute” and the other in a Free Malaysia Today commentary piece titled “DAP dan politik onani” (DAP and political masturbation).

“Such attacks have been going on for a while with the aim of tarnishing the image of DAP and its members, but there’s a limit to everything,” Gobind said.

“We don’t mind political debate and differences of opinion and we are open to criticism. But these attacks are personal, offensive, and contain elements that tarnish personal reputation.

“We will report to the authorities to put a stop to them.”

Dyana Sofea, Rara and Melati were also at the press conference.

“These attack are against women in politics in general and are degrading,” Dyana said.

“We are exercising our rights to join any legal party of our choice and there has to be a sense of maturity regarding this.”

Rara said the attacks degraded the image of women everywhere and were used to discourage women’s involvement in politics, especially if they were to join an opposition party.

Melati, a direct target of the statement carried by MyKMU.net, said, “People have questioned my religion of Islam and called me a prostitute. I’m still a Muslim regardless of my political affiliation.

“These statements are offensive to me personally and to my family.”

Gobind said DAP was considering defamation lawsuits against the offending parties as the next step.

“We are Malaysians and we respect our women and I hope appropriate actions are taken,” he said.

Gobind pledged to bring up the matter of women’s rights and their role in politics in the next parliament session.

Islamic State influence spreads beyond Iraq and Syria

  

LAHORE, Pakistan — In Pakistan, some are slapping pro-Islamic State bumper stickers on their cars and writing chalk graffiti on walls exhorting young people to join the terrorist group.

In China, the government fears that Muslim Uighurs — a restive ethnic minority in the country's far west — have sought terrorist training from the Islamic State to establish a breakaway country.

 In eastern Mali, an Islamic State-affiliated group called "Soldiers of the Caliphate in the Land of Algeria" has taken over much of Gao province, inflicting severe punishments for breaches of the Quran, like drinking alcohol. Those militants beheaded a French tourist in Algeria last month after France refused to halt its participation in U.S.-led airstrikes against the group in Iraq.

"The situation gets more and more complicated as our region becomes the stronghold of radical Islamists who only use violence to express their will," said Mamadou Idrissa, a businessman in Gao. "Our life has turned into a nightmare."

After its lightning takeover of a third of Iraq and Syria this summer, the Islamic State appears to be spreading its influence across much of the Muslim world and even in such non-Muslim countries as Australia and India.

"The Islamic State's appeal extends beyond the Middle East," said Fawaz Gerges, a professor of contemporary Middle East studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science. "Their strategy is anchored on the simple premise that it is a winning horse. It has promised the entire ummah — the Muslim community — that it could deliver victory and salvation."

The formation of the U.S.-led coalition trying to destroy the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria only enhances the legitimacy of the militant group, Gerges said.

But the Islamic State has limited capabilities outside its sanctuaries in Iraq and Syria, said Rick Nelson, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
"They have globalized rhetoric," Nelson said, "As far as an aggressive overseas campaign, I don't think the evidence is there."

The group is effective at whipping up support through social media. It has sent emissaries to jihadist groups in North Africa and elsewhere, said William McCants, an analyst at the Brookings Institution. He said the Islamic State wants to build a global presence, but that will take time.

The Pentagon said it has no evidence that Islamic State militants are planning to attack targets in the United States, but if left unchecked the group could pose a direct threat to the U.S. and other Western countries.

The Islamic State's popularity among some groups seems to be growing.

In Mali, Abu Othman, a former member of the Islamist group Ansar Dine, or "Defenders of the Faith" in Arabic, explained the appeal: The group's aggression was simply payback for past oppression against Muslims.

"Violence was not condemned by the people when Muslims were massacred by Christians in central Africa," Othman said. "So it goes without saying that the violence perpetrated by the Islamic State against the Christians is only one measure of retaliation."

Pakistan denies that the Islamic State made inroads into the nuclear-armed country, where sectarian violence, political instability and tensions with its non-Muslim neighbor, India, have long raised concerns among Western leaders.

"I have seen media reports that some pamphlets have been found in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa," said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam, referring to a mountainous area of Pakistan formerly called North West Frontier province. "We have not seen any evidence of their presence on our territory."

​ But Pakistan is fertile territory for the Islamic State, particularly among al-Qaeda sympathizers who have seen the terrorist group's networks weakened over the past decade, analysts said.

"I don't think it will take long for the Islamic State to develop a base from disgruntled ex-al-Qaeda militants," said Ahmed Rashid, an analyst who has written about extremism in the region.

Talat Masood, a retired lieutenant general and independent defense expert in Islamabad, said Pakistan could become a battleground between the Islamic State and various rivals vying for power in the country.

"Power struggles between al-Qaeda and the Islamic State can aggravate the level of violence," Masood said. "There is no doubt that we will see a dangerous battle of influence developing between these two in which many innocent people will die."

In neighboring India — where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is wary of the threat from Islamist extremists in Pakistan — reports abound of Islamic State activity.

In August, the death of Islamic State fighter Arif Ejaz Majeed, a Muslim civil engineering student from suburban Mumbai, made headlines in India.

In the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, around 24 Indian Muslims were photographed wearing pro-Islamic State T-shirts. In the northern state of Srinagar, masked youths were filmed waving Islamic State flags.

"While the threat from Pakistan-based jihadist organizations remains current, India is also witnessing the rise of self-motivated, ideologically inspired, homegrown jihadists," said Tufail Ahmad, director of the South Asia Studies Project at the Middle East Media Research Institute in Washington.

Uighurs (WEE-gurs) in China are similarly organizing.

"They not only want to get training in terrorist techniques, but also to expand their connections in international terrorist organizations through actual combat to gain support for more terrorist activities in China," the Global Times newspaper, the Communist Party's mouthpiece, said recently.

Australia plans to ban its citizens from traveling to Islamic State-controlled territories, like Raqqa in northern Syria. European countries, which suspect hundreds if not thousands of citizens have joined the Islamic State, have started cracking down on travel to that region.

Raqqa was the scene of a now infamous photograph of a young boy holding the severed head of a Syrian government soldier that reportedly was taken this year.

"My unambiguous message to all Australians who fight with terrorist groups is that you will be arrested, prosecuted and jailed for a very long time," Prime Minister Tony Abbott told Parliament last month. "Our laws are being changed to make it easier to keep potential terrorists off our streets,"

Racelma reported from Tizi Ouzou, Algeria. Contributing: Janelle Dumalaon in Berlin, Caesar Mandal in Kolkata, India, and Jim Michaels, USA TODAY, in Washington.

Move To Reduce Subsidy To Look After People's Interest, Says Najib

PEKAN, Oct 3 (Bernama) -- Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the move by the government to reduce the fuel subsidy was to look after the interest of the people and country in the long-run.

He said although the move was unpopular, it had to be carried out as the fuel subsidy borne by the government each year was too high.

In fact, he said, if the move had not been taken, it would have an impact on the national economy due to the reduced revenue for national expenditure.

"Last year, the subsidy for fuel, petrol, LPG and diesel amounted to RM24 billion which was not a small amount.

"If we don't reduce the amount, it could result in insufficient revenue to pay for government expenditure," he said when speaking at the presentation of cattle for sacrifice for the Pekan parliamentary constituency in conjunction with Hari Raya Aidiladha, here today.

At the event which was also attended by Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob, Najib who is also the Member of Parliament for Pekan, had given out 505 heads of cattle for the whole parliamentary constituency.

At the same time, he said, the government would announce various measures to assist the rakyat in facing the problem of the reduced fuel subsidy in tabling the budget on Oct 10.

Najib, who is also the Finance Minister, said this included the giving out of targeted subsidy directly to the people such as schooling aid, 1Malaysia People's Aid (BR1M) and other assistance to be announced later.

"In the next budget, we will certainly think of how to assist the people so that the aid reaches the people directly and reduce the leakage so that the economy will be stronger, with higher economic growth and more revenue for distribution to the people," he said.

Najib said the government would also review the granting of bulk subsidy for fuel in view of the leakage in the distribution of fuel to the people in the country.

"This is because the fuel subsidy currently is also enjoyed by the richer group, tourists, foreign workers and illegal foreign workers.

"In fact, in the Pengkalan Kubor by-election recently, I found that a lot of our diesel had been smuggled out from Rantau Panjang to be sold across (in Thailand)," he said.

Meanwhile, Najib reminded the people to make the element of sacrifice as fundamental in achieving success.

"If we are willing to sacrifice with sincerity without expecting any return, InsyaAllah (God willing) we will be amply rewarded," he said.

Uthayakumar dibebasakan selepas di penjara 485 hari