Zeenews India:
Beijing: China on Monday asked the international community to be on “high alert” and step up cooperation to fight against terrorism saying that Islamic militants from its troubled northwest province of Xinjiang, bordering PoK, were in Syria and battling government forces there.
Confirming reports that the militants from Xinjiang, where China is grappling with ethnic unrest between Muslim Uyghur population and Han Chinese settlers, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said that the Xinjiang militants were “colluding” with international terrorist groups.
| “China opposes all forms of terrorism. The East Turkistan terrorist forces lead by the East Turkistan Islamic movement, (active in Xinjiang) have been colluding with international terrorist organisation,” Hong told a media briefing without directly naming al Qaeda. |
“It not only seriously undermines China’s national security but also a threat to other countries peace and stability. The international community should stay on high alert against them and step up cooperation the joint fight against all terrorist organisations including them,” he said.
Earlier state-run Global Times quoted unidentified Chinese anti-terrorism officials as saying that leaders from “East Turkestan” terror organisations sending their members to Syria to participate in their quest for jihad.
China backs the embattled Assad regime in Syria even though it established contacts with the rebel groups.
Bulgarian radical Islam trial hears witnesses amid nationalist demo
(AFP) – 2 hours ago
PAZARDZHIK, Bulgaria — A trial against 13 Bulgarian Muslim religious leaders for preaching a radical form of Islam heard key witnesses Monday, while nationalists demonstrated at the court in the southern town of Pazardzhik to protest “Muslim pressure” on its work.
The 12 men and one woman — imams, mufti Islamic scholars and teachers — have been charged with founding a local branch of the extremist Al Waqf-Al Islami group in the southern regions of Smolyan, Blagoevgrad and Pazardzhik.
The Netherlands-based but Saudi-funded organisation is suspected of links to Al-Qaeda.
The 13 were charged with preaching a radical anti-democratic ideology based on hardline Salafist teachings during prayers at mosques, lectures, sermons and cafe meetings between March 2008 and October 2010 and with seeking to impose a caliphate state.
All defendants have pleaded not guilty and several witnesses have so far refused to confirm their initial written testimony.
Another key witness, who once worked for the Al Waqf-Al Islami foundation also rejected his testimony on Monday. Muafak al-Assad, a Syrian national who once studied in Bulgaria, also said he was pressured by state security agents to refuse an interpreter and not to appear at the trial at all.
Three protected witnesses called by the prosecution were also due to testify later Monday.
About 300 nationalists meanwhile demonstrated at the court with Bulgarian flags and signs reading “Bulgaria is a secular state” to protest what they said was “Muslim pressure” over the court during its previous hearings.
A crowd of long-bearded men and women wearing long black dresses had then gathered outside the courtroom to support their religious leaders but their outfit, which is not traditional for Bulgaria’s Muslim minority, sparked a controversy. They were absent on Monday, however.
“We want to avoid conflicts,” Bulgaria’s deputy chief mufti Birali Birali, who was present at the hearing, said.
Bulgaria, whose population of 7.4 million is 80-percent Christian Orthodox, also has the highest percentage of native Muslims in the European Union, at about 13 percent.
They include Turks, Muslim Roma and Pomaks, like the accused, whose Christian ancestors were forced to convert to Islam during the country’s Ottoman domination between the 14th and 19th century. The Pomaks are the most devout of the three subgroups, minority experts said.
Most experts also warned that, regardless of its outcome, the trial risks raising tensions between Bulgaria’s Christian majority and the Muslim minority, who have lived together quietly since the fall of communism in 1989.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j2pIn3mpFwgerEyv2G_MBjVnAb3Q?docId=CNG.18e8e6adac2712ad9d516458f6b31dc2.461
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PAZARDZHIK, Bulgaria: Hundreds of nationalists rallied in a southern Bulgarian town Monday in support of the prosecution of 13 religious leaders accused of spreading radical Islam in a case causing communal strains in the Balkan country.
The trial, just months after a suicide bomber killed five Israeli tourists and a Bulgarian driver at the Black Sea port of Burgas, has tested a delicate ethnic balance between the country’s minority Muslims and its Orthodox Christian majority.
Prosecutors in the southern town of Pazardzhik have charged 12 Bulgarian citizens, most of them Muslim prayer leaders, and one woman for preaching radical Islam between 2008 and 2010. Three of them are also charged with inciting religious hatred.
Protesters, led by far-right parties Attack and VMRO, waved banners reading “Our religion is Bulgaria” and “Tough sentences for fanatics,” and said the march aimed to counter gatherings of Muslims in front of the courthouse in support of the accused.
The suspects, who deny any wrongdoing, face up to five years in prison if convicted. They are accused of working with an unregistered branch of Al-Waqf-Al Islami, an Islamic foundation set up in the Netherlands and funded mainly by “Salafist circles” from Saudi Arabia, the court said, referring to an ultra-conservative brand of Islam.
About 100 Muslims also rallied near the court under heavy police protection in support of the accused, saying the 13 had preached only traditional Islam. Bulgaria’s Mufti Office has also declared its support for the accused.
The trial has the potential to threaten a culture of tolerance in Bulgaria, where Muslims make up about 12 percent of the 7.3 million population, analysts said.
Bulgaria is the only EU country where Muslims are not recent immigrants but a centuries-old local community, mostly ethnic Turkish descendants of Ottoman rule that ended in 1878.
“Trials like this could dramatically raise tension in the places where Bulgarian Muslims live,” said Antonina Zhelyazkova, of the Sofia-based International Center for Minority Studies.
The trial has revived memories of the 1980s when hundreds of Muslims were forced to change their names to Bulgarian ones and over 300,000 left the country as a result of a campaign by late communist dictator Todor Zhivkov to revive mainstream Bulgarian culture.
Nationalist parties are also trying to use the trial to gain popularity before a general election next year, analysts said.
Israel has accused Iran and the Lebanese Islamist group Hezbollah of being behind the Burgas attack. Iran has denied the charge.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/International/2012/Oct-30/193138-bulgarian-nationalists-rally-for-muslims-trial.ashx
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Several Pics on this page :
http://offnews.bg/index.php/117000/protestite-v-pazardzhik-v-snimki
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2 videos + more pics on this page :
http://btvnews.bg/bulgaria/natsionalisti-protestirat-po-vreme-na-deloto-sreshchu-imamite-v-pazardzhik.html
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VIDEO 1 : Bulgaria or Afghanistan – Muslim Salafists protest in PAZARDZHIK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25EJIu_Rjdw
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VIDEO 2 – MUSLIM FANATICS in PAZARDZHIK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBbBsIzhkEA
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Well, maybe we could learn a lesson from the Chinese. They know how to protect their sovereignty and are not ashamed of their culture like so many of us in the West appear to be. They also recognise Muslims for what they really are, and instead of cowering to them, are prepared to kick their arses into line when needs be!
Muslims seriously need a good kicking now and then and a Chinese burn or two will remind them of where their place is.
why is china dithering on this subject?
they are not normally noted for their reticence in maintaining “public order”.
it is at times like this that a bit of forthright state brutality wouldn’t go amiss.
I wonder if China is applying its one child per woman policy in Muslim infected parts of China?
DP I think it applies in all areas of China.
China is not taking its normal tough stance because they are trying to keep Iran happy, they want Iran to attack the west and weaken us as it is destroyed. Since they aren’t much better then the Moslems, just smarter and slower making their conquests they are getting a better reputation. Another reason is that China has no oil, not any and is more dependent on the Middle East then the West is, the only other sources they have are Valenzuela and Russia. Russia hates China almost as much as it hates the West and no one knows which way Chavez will jump on any give moment, but he is good friends with Iran. Thus China has to stay semi polite if they don’t want the shakey house of cards they call their economy to collapse on them.
Hopefully, China and Moslems will fail to dominate the West. Disgusting to see those chinese businessess in south east asia pandering to islam.
Since Chinas economy is in worse shape then almost everyone else I think we can take it as a given that they are going to have to either pull back or start using military force to get the raw materials they need.