Shahbaz Taseer abducted from Lahore

By Asad Kharal / Express

Published: August 26, 2011





Shahbaz Taseer, son of former governor Salmaan Taseer. PHOTO: TMN/FILE

LAHORE: Shahbaz Taseer, son of late Governor Punjab Salmaan Taseer, was abducted from the Gulberg area of Lahore on Friday.

The Express Tribune’s Asad Kharal reports Taseer had left his house from Cavalry Ground in his silver Mercedes Kompressor (LZT-1) for his office around 10:15am. Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Lahore said his car was intercepted by a black SUV and motorbike around 600 yards from the office and up to three men dragged Taseer out of the car and took him away.

Family sources said they had been informed of the kidnapping when a company driver passing by the area saw Taseer’s car abandoned in the street.

The kidnappers headed to Firdous Market via Cavalry Flyover, which leads straight to DHA Lahore and the cantonment areas. A traffic warden in the area reported a black SUV, white corolla and a motorbike sped through the area and made a sharp turn, which resulted in a black Kalashnikov dropping out of one of the cars.

“Shabhaz was out with a friend when four unidentified people kidnapped him,” his brother Sheryar Taseer told Reuters.

“Our family has been receiving threats from the Taliban and extremist groups,” he said, adding they could be behind the abduction.

Official sources said Shahbaz Taseer had some property disputes and had also been receiving threats recently.

No one has claimed responsibility.

Taseer was travelling without any security today and is normally reported to have travelled in a silver Prado with Elite force and police guards.

Police is also retrieving CCTV footage from the area to help with investigations.

One of the guards posted with Shahbaz Taseer was taken into custody and had his weapon seized when police questioned him and he revealed another guard was on leave. He had not left the house with Taseer but had later been told to go to the office.

Two police personnal, Liaquat and Sharafat, were posted with Taseer.

Police officials said the Taseer family had a total of 12 police and five Rangers personnel posted with them.

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has taken notice of the incident and has issued directives to Inspector General of Police (IG) Punjab and Chief Secretary Punjab to take immediate action.

A Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) team, on the directives of Director Punjab and Interior Minister Rehman Malik, has started investigations.

A National Response Center for Cyber Crimes (NR3C) team visited the office, home and checked Shahbaz Taseer’s car to collect forensic evidence. The team consisted of Deputy Director NR3C Sajjid Akram Chaudhry, SHO NR3C Ahmer Naeem, forensic expert Abdul Ghaffar and hardware engineer Muhammad Usman.
Background

Shahbaz Taseer, who is the eldest son of former governor Salmaan Taseer, Shahbaz Taseer is a director in several companies his father founded, including Pace Pakistan Ltd., First Capital Equities Ltd., Media Times Ltd. and First Capital Securities Corp. Ltd.

This is the second high profile kidnapping in Lahore during the last two weeks. Earlier on August 13, armed men had abducted US aid expert Warren Weinstein from his residence in the city.

Late governor of Punjab, Salmaan Taseer was shot dead on January 4 this year by his security guard.

A vocal critic of the blasphemy law, Salmaan Taseer showed his overwhelming support for Aasia Bibi, the woman charged with making disrespectful remarks against the Holy Prophet (pbuh), and condemned the controversial law on several occasions.

(Read: Taseer’s remarks about blasphemy law)

Last week, the cleric who led the funeral prayers for Salmaan Taseerwas forced to flee the country following threats.

According to a report by the Press Trust of India, Muhammad Afzal Chishti, the secretary general of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Ulema wing, left the country after having received numerous threats against his life.

For more on this issue follow: shahbaztaseer
.


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Reader Comments (67)

All Comments
Reader's Recommendations
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bulbul

2 hours ago

Reply



Oh no…….. this is sad…. =(

btw….. the car he was driving LZT 1 is using fake number plates…

MERCEDEZ – SLK 200
Registeration Date 2005-08-17 00:00:00.0
Vehicle Price 5622474
Year of Manufacture 2005
Color COOL RED

Recommend11.
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sulman

2 hours ago

Reply



Soo…the traffic wardens just watched this happen?
wtf…

Recommend5.
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Asma

2 hours ago

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so much sorry to hear abt it… i wonder will a news ever make its way to any paper or site within half an our if my or any commoner’s brother or son is abducted! i dun think so…. sad sad Pakistan

Recommend8.
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Dee

2 hours ago

Reply



sad :(

Recommend10.
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M.Akthar

2 hours ago

Reply



Now Popular Qadri will be released in exchange. Wait & watch this space.

Recommend41.
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Usman Ahmad

2 hours ago

Reply



Will he be murdered too? How unfortunate…! No body is safe in this country save zardari!

Recommend12.
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D

2 hours ago

Reply



Oh my God. poor family was already suffering.

Recommend16.
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Chacha

2 hours ago

Reply



If this is true then it implies that murders of Taseer and Bhatti and the extremism and intolerance that such acts displayed were not isolated incidents, extremism is now part of mainstream Pakistan.

Recommend34.
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basharat

2 hours ago

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May God he remains safe and joins his family unharmed.

Recommend9.
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Tanzeel

2 hours ago

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So far no notable development taken place in Salman Taseer’s murder, now his son abducted. it will be interesting to see how Punjab Govt esp Rana Sanaullah responds to this case, not to mention they have recovered American National in just 3-4 days from Khushaab. Resources are there, eye witnesses are there what we they need is WILL.

Recommend7.
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M. A. Changezi

2 hours ago

Reply



“Late Governor” not “Later Governor”. Correction please. :)

Recommend1.
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MS - Mariya

2 hours ago

Reply



sad :-((

Recommend6.
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SharifL

2 hours ago

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It appears the surest way to live in Pakistan is: praise the lord and follow the faith blindly and 100%.
Shame really.

Recommend21.
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Sana Baig

2 hours ago

Reply



Give vote to PML(N), PTI and we all will see how these extremist element will nurture further. End to Drone attacks will make this country a talibanistan for sure. May these hypocrites burn in fire of H3ll and their political career slither in oblivion forever

Recommend20.
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Noman Ansari

2 hours ago

Reply



This is so terrible! :(

Recommend5.
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Sana Baig

2 hours ago

Reply



Put End to this PML(N), taliban party !!

Recommend21.
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Arindom

2 hours ago

Reply



Situation getting sadder and more pathetic by the day….
….But we still want Kashmir!! LOL!

Recommend14.
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Yasin Ali

2 hours ago

Reply



Rana Sanaullah and CM Shahbaz: why did you withdraw security from Taseer Family?Recommend11.
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Imran

2 hours ago

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Completely unacceptable. Now the ransom demand to release Salman’s killer will come!! Ridiculous!

Recommend8.
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Abdul Rehman Gilani

2 hours ago

Reply



Awww, seculars and liberals start crying again…..
start chanting against the state of Pakistan and call it a failed one,
start speaking about so-called extremism in Pakistan. demonizing the role of clerics, and giving a “fatwaa” that Pakistan was meant to be a secular state …..
start lamenting about the apparent in vain death of salman taseer( who is NOT a martyr but was an open drinker)
and finally repeat the same drama of dreaming that Pakistan becomes liberal…..

Honestly, this self-centred, self-pitiful attitude of seculars/liberals is disgusting, they dont deserve any sympathy.( I will be dubbed as an extremist for this frank, curt and truthful opinion)

Judging by the media hype and pressure, I can guarantee safely that shahbaz will be freed in a few days.

Recommend22.
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Atif Anjum

2 hours ago

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@Chacha:
Please stop propaganda and conspiracy theory against Pakistan and Pakistani and Islam. Let some useful information come to media, who kidnapped him and why.

Recommend9.
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Atif Anjum

2 hours ago

Reply



@Chacha:
btw, did you type at least one comments on the news when a christian extremist killed 94 People in Norway?

Recommend15.
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A Rehman

2 hours ago

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Very sad. Punjab government sleeping.Recommend5.
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Atif Anjum

2 hours ago

Reply



@Sana Baig:
How you claim, he has been kidnapped by any banned group, when no report has been come yet, actual extremist is in you, who always think on one way

Recommend5.
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Yasin Ali

2 hours ago

Reply



Even Punjab Government is Impotent …. They can hardly avert any crisis . Just when Mowlana Chisti left country due to insecurity … how on earth they couldnt got serious about Shaheed Salman Taseer Family .

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maestro

2 hours ago

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@Abdul Rehman Gilani:
So he was an open drinker! So what???? At least he wasn’t drinking anyone’s blood! We answer to God only!! May Allah have mercy on the Taseer family and may Qadri and all kafir monsters like him burn in hell!Recommend31.
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Atif Anjum

2 hours ago

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@Abdul Rehman Gilani:
100% right brother …

Recommend11.
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poppy

an hour ago

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this is not sad, its more than that, its horrible, terrible,…..
stop praying and do something.

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teng chu

an hour ago

Reply



foreign hand should not be ruled out

Recommend1.
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ZM

an hour ago

Reply



The Taseers are paying a price for ‘OUR STUPID SILENCE’. We all know what is happening in Pakistan and the world over. Why are we doing nothing about it? What is this stupid act of self preservation that will eventually lead to a holocaust in this region. I’m telling you all… the fundos will kill us all one by one if we don’t stop this madness. We need a guerrilla strategy now to deal with supporters and condoners of extremism and mob culture. Laaton kay bhoot baaton say nahin maantay. Religious sermons, congregations, Daras etc should all be banned ‘UNTIL’ a clear ‘peace and freedom for all’ agenda is promised and exercised in all mosques and private sermons, indiscriminately, because we are also attacked and targeted the same way too.

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Arindom

an hour ago

Reply



@MS – Mariya:

funny you feel sorry – or is that what is known as ‘crocodile tears’ ? Only the other day you were a tigress defending the forces of obscurantism and fanatism?

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loose dhoti

an hour ago

Reply



@Arindom: its about a guy being kidnapped, you want us to give you kashmir for that.

Recommend4.
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Uncle J

an hour ago

Reply



@Abdul Rehman Ghani and Atif Anjum:

Wtf is wrong with you? Why would we Pakistanis care what’s happening in Norway? Apnay mulk main maslay kam hain? Shahbaz Taseer was abducted in Pakistan by Pakistanis. Are you telling me his abductors are not terrorists? Are you telling me the death of a man means nothing to you? is this what Islam has taught you?

You have twisted, warped and completely torn apart Islam with your moribund idiosyncracies. Shame on you and all those like you. A man’s father was murdered. Later he is kidnapped. And you want us to focus of Norway?

Shame on you. Just shame on you.

Recommend36.
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khan

an hour ago

Reply



@Abdul Rehman Gilani
re: NOT a martyr but was an open drinker

According to your opinion drinking of alcohol cancels shahadats.

This blinkered logic would suggest that the Hazrat Hamza ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib does not deserve to be called a martyr after courageously sacrificing his life for Islam in the Battle of Uhud?

What kind of Muslim are you?

Recommend15.
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MS - Mariya

an hour ago

Reply



@Abdul Rehman Gilani:
secular and liberal crying? Every pakistani should cry when an indivdual gets kidnapped. Every Pakistani should cry when a human being gets killed for his personal opinion in this country.

No this country is not a failed state but people like you has messed my country.

‘open drinker’..well our founding father Jinnah was an open drinker. What are you doing in his country?

Recommend37.
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Adil

an hour ago

Reply



Sad. No one would have had the audacity to even think of perpetrating such an act had his dad been alive. How times change….

Recommend3.
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Rubab A. Zaidi

an hour ago

Reply



May God he remains safe and joins his family unharmed

Recommend2.
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Atif Anjum

an hour ago

Reply



@All
Amazing, How people are commenting on kidnapping of a rich guy, while no report came yet who kidnapped him, and why. It may by possible his ex-girl friend may be involved or wat else. But not one commenting on the cruelty on “Rights violation: Over 2,000 found buried in Kashmir’s unmarked graves” , instead indian are supporting their army for this animal act.

Recommend6.
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Annum

an hour ago

Reply



@Abdul Rehman Gillani
If your accusing “liberals and secular” of demonizing, than please realize you’re falling trap to your own criticism. Why is there a need to hate and reduce other people’s beliefs all the time.

Recommend9.
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Uncle Sam

an hour ago

Reply



Another kidnapping. Hmmm…

A great man said


Death of one is a tragedy. Death of many is a statistics.

Recommend2.
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Adeel759

an hour ago

Reply



@Gilani. “Liberals font deserve sympathy”. Why do you gave to state thah, extremist like you are proving that. But know this Mr Gilani, thanks to you and your brother Qadri The Killer Pakistan has become what it is today. Liberals may not deserve sympathy, people like you font deserve a place in this country. You better move to Afghanistan Or Saudi Arabia, so you could practice your beloved religion openly, with your hands cut.Recommend11.
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MS - Mariya

an hour ago

Reply



@khan:
@Uncle J:
excellent reply to crazy Gilani.

Recommend4.
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Atif Anjum

an hour ago

Reply



@Uncle J:
from what sources you claim that Shahbaz Taseer was abducted by Pakistanis or by pakistani muslims? and why you involve islam in his abduction? Shame on you who always blame Islam on each issue without any facts n figures

Recommend3.
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Loneliberal PK

an hour ago

Reply



Abdul Rehman Gilani,
At this point it is only the ignorant and the moronic who are smiling. This is bigger than seculars and Islamists. Atrocities like these adversely affect the future of this country, which is a loss for both sides.

Recommend14.
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Abbas

an hour ago

Reply



Pakistan was made to break the so called super powers, so they don’t want us to live in peace.
May Allah bring home safe, enshAllah.

Recommend1.
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Me

an hour ago

Reply



Terrible news, may they recover him alive and well Inshallah. My prayers are with the Taseers.

Recommend2.
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Arindom

an hour ago

Reply



@loose dhoti: read Atif Anjum’s comment and you’ll what I meant! LOL!
@Atif Anjum: exactly…….you are going down the drain…..but still want Kashmir!!

Recommend2.
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ju

an hour ago

Reply



@MS – Mariya:
yah :/ :P hahahahahahhahhahahahahah

Recommend1.
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epicurus

an hour ago

Reply



@Abdul Rehman Gilani:
bhaisaab, why will the seculars and the liberals not cry?????
salmaan tasser’s another son aatish tasser is a renowned writer traveeling across india, without any isues, where his father is known as a late minister to india’s enemy no 1, and here in pakistan, where his father was a late minister, his son is kidnapped in public…tch tch….the religiously pious have a lot to answwer,,,,,,,,

Recommend1.
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usman

an hour ago

Reply



One thing has clearly been established: Abdul Rehman Gilani is not the smartest tool in the shed

Recommend11

Suicide blasts at Sufi shrine in Pakistan kill 44

Pakistan's top spy visits Washington in patch-up trip
11 Apr 2011 08:41

Source: reuters // Reuters


ISLAMABAD, April 11 (Reuters) - The head of Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is visiting his counterpart at the CIA, the agency said on Monday, in an attempt to patch up an alliance considered crucial to winning the war against al Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban.

Lieutenant-general Ahmad Shuja Pasha's visit comes at a time when U.S.-Pakistan joint intelligence operations have been disrupted over a series of disputes, particularly the case of Raymond Davis, a CIA contractor who shot dead two Pakistanis in the eastern city of Lahore in January.[ID:nL3E7F908B.

Pakistan held Davis despite U.S. insistence that he enjoyed diplomatic immunity. He was released last month after the families of the dead men were paid compensation, a custom in Pakistan and sanctioned in Islam.

The ISI offered no details on Pasha's trip which also comes days after the Pakistani government extended his tenure for the second time to ensure continuity.

Pasha is generally seen as getting on well with his U.S. counterparts, but he has faced personal embarrassment after families of the victims of the Mumbai 2008 attacks named him and other ISI operatives in three lawsuits filed before a federal court in Brooklyn, New York.

The suits allege that the ISI officers were involved with Lashkar e Taiba (LeT), an anti-India militant group, in planning and orchestrating the Mumbai attacks in which U.S citizens were among the victims.

Pakistan's government has said it will "strongly contest" the litigation. (Created by Chris Allbritton; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)


===

Policemen remove explosives from a suicide bomber as he lies severely injured at the site of the attack in Dera Ghazi Khan on Sunday. PHOTO: REUTERS
DERA GHAZI KHAN:
At least 44 people have been killed and 120 wounded in a double suicide bomb attack at a shrine in this central Punjab district on Sunday.
The bombers struck outside the shrine of the 13th century Sufi saint Ahmed Sultan, popularly known as Sakhi Sarwar.
Thousands of devotees had gathered for the annual urs celebrations at the shrine, sited some 40 kilometres away from Dera Ghazi Khan city, when the attacks took place.
“We have recovered 44 bodies so far,” said local police officer Zahid Hussain Shah, adding that more than 100 were wounded. “Both were suicide attackers, they came on foot and blew themselves up when police on duty stopped them.”
Many of those wounded in the attacks were in a serious condition, he said.
“It was around 5pm. Devotees were performing devotional dance at the main entrance to the shrine when a teenager detonated the explosives strapped to his body,” an eyewitness told the Daily Express. “Around 15 minutes later another suicide bomber struck at the staircase of the shrine,” he said. “Bodies were scattered all over and the injured people were crying for help,” added another witness.
Regional Police Officer (RPO) Ahmed Mubarak confirmed that two suicide bombers tried to enter the shrine but failed and blew themselves up.
Police officer Shah claimed that they have arrested a third suspected suicide bomber, identified as Fida Hussain, a 15- to 16-year-old Afghan refugee from the tribal belt.
According to eyewitnesses, after the bombings, devotees were running in panic. The bomber ran into an elderly woman devotee and a hand grenade dropped from his hand. The woman raised alarm and some policeman standing nearby opened fire on him.
Police said the bomber was injured and could not detonate his suicide vest. Later, police arrested him and defused his suicide jacket.
Police also recovered the severed head of one of the numbers and also found a school card nearby. The card identifies the bomber as Abdullah, son of Noorullah, resident of Mirali in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
The injured were ferried to different hospitals in Dera Ghazi Khan and Multan where a state of emergency was declared.
Dera Ghazi Khan’s commissioner confirmed the casualties saying that the death toll could rise as some of the injured are in a critical condition.
A police official, requesting anonymity, said the shrine had received threats from unidentified militants.
Shrines of Sufi saints, who follow the mystical dimension of Islam, have increasingly been the target of bloody attacks by militants in the country.
No group has immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks, but extremists, including the Taliban, are vehemently opposed to the Sufi strand of Islam and consider their shrines to be idolatrous.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani condemned the blasts, saying that “such cowardly acts of terror clearly demonstrate that the culprits involved neither have any faith nor any belief in human values”.
“Such violent acts only seem to be conspiracy to divide the society and create fear,” said a statement issued by the prime minister’s office.
He directed the law-enforcement agencies to investigate the incident and apprehend the terrorists.
With additional input from wires
Published in The Express Tribune, April 4th, 2011.


============
03 Apr 2011 16:16

Source: reuters // Reuters


(Updates death toll, adds detail)

By Asim Tanveer

MULTAN, Pakistan, April 3 (Reuters) - Two Taliban suicide bombers caused carnage on Sunday at a Sufi shrine in eastern Pakistan, killing at least 41 people and wounding scores in the latest bloody attack on minority religious groups.

"These were suicide bombings and we arrested an attacker who could not completely detonate the explosives on his body. He was wounded," Zahid Ali, a police officer in Dera Ghazi Khan city where the blasts took place, told Reuters by telephone.

Police said some 65 people were wounded. They said the attackers struck during an annual ceremony for the Sufi saint to whom the shrine is dedicated.

"I was just a few yards away from the place where the blast happened," said witness Faisal Iqbal.

"People started running outside the shrine. Women and children were crying and screaming. It was like hell."

Taliban militants, who follow an austere interpretation of Sunni Islam, condemn other interpretations of Islam as heretical and have launched repeated attacks on the country's Shi'ite, Sufi and Christian minorities. They claimed responsibility for Sunday's suicide bombings.

"Our men carried out these attacks and we will carry out more in retaliation for government operations against our people in the northwest," Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.

Last October, a bomb blast at a Sufi shrine in another eastern city, Pak Pattan, killed six people. In July, 42 people were killed in a bomb attack in Pakistan's most important Sufi shrine, in Lahore, the capital of eastern Punjab province.
Many analysts say the attacks are motivated by more than religious hatred, and that militant groups hope by inflaming sectarian tensions they can further destabilise Pakistan and weaken the government's tenuous grip on the country. (Additional reporting by Kamran Haider and Mubasher Bokhari, writing by Andrew Marshall, editing by Daniel Magnowski)


=
Sakhi Sarwar Shrine: 30 killed, 100 injured in three blasts
Sakhi Sarwar Shrine: 30 killed, 100 injured in three blasts At least thirty people were killed and hundred were injured in three blasts at Sakhi Sarwar Shrine.



According to sources, the first blast was occurred near the main gate of the shrine and the second was occurred near the shrine in Dera Ghazi Khan on Sunday.

Rescue operation has started. The injured and dead bodies were being shifted to Multan and nearby hospitals.

Police have arrested two suspects outside the shrine.

On the other hand, young doctors have ended the strike in Multan and Dera Ghazi Khan due to the blast. The Yong Doctors Association president has urged the doctors to join their duties immediately.


===

Intelligence warning: Hizb ut-Tahrir planned ‘Arab spring’ in Pakistan
By Irfan Ghauri / Zia Khan
Published: July 25, 2011

Classified report says the radical group sought to recruit ‘like-minded’ military officers to its cause. PHOTO: REUTERS/FILE
ISLAMABAD:

Several weeks before the military detained a group of senior officers for alleged links with the radical group Hizb ut-Tahrir earlier this year, the country’s intelligence agencies warned that the banned organisation was planning an Egypt-style uprising in Pakistan by seeking support from ‘like-minded’ elements within the armed forces.

In a correspondence among the Punjab police, the Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), and the government in April this year, made available to The Express Tribune, there was a clear warning of the outfit attempting a ‘deep infiltration’ of the military and academia.

Wary of its burgeoning network and in what appeared to be an early warning of the group’s growing influence, the Crime Investigation Department (CID) of the police called for taking ‘appropriate’ steps to control the group that calls for establishing a caliphate in Pakistan by overthrowing the government.

“All were forewarned about what was coming,” an official told The Express Tribune on Sunday about the letter.

Officials said the arrest of Brigadier Ali Khan and four hitherto unknown majors in May came after months of such correspondence between various law-enforcement and intelligence agencies, hinting at ‘suspicious’ activities of Hizb ut-Tahrir activists and their possible collaboration with military personnel, particularly in Punjab.

The brigadier and majors are still in the military’s custody and might face a court martial for ‘inciting fellow officers for a mutiny’.

The crucial letter urged law-enforcement officials to take ‘preventive or pre-emptive measures’ to avert any untoward incident and make efforts to “identify and apprehend the miscreants before they succeed in their nefarious designs.”

According to the document, Hizb ut-Tahrir was working on a plan to seek an uprising in Pakistan similar to ones in Tunisia and Egypt earlier this year. “They wanted an Arab spring in Pakistan,” said an official familiar with the letter.

Hizb ut-Tahrir had regularly been distributing pamphlets and leaflets in middle and upper-middle class residential areas of large cities. This activity gained momentum after the successful uprising in Tunisia.

In its pamphlets, Hizb ut-Tahrir specifically addressed the armed forces, urging military personnel and the general public, especially the youth, to make a concerted effort to get rid of the government, citing the example of Tunisia.

The pamphlets also sought to utilise the public’s anti-American sentiments, inciting them against what it called the ‘pro-American’ generals who they said had engaged a ‘Muslim’ army in a war with their fellow brothers in the tribal areas at the behest of the United States.

Intelligence agencies warned that Hizbut Tahrir was trying to mobilise public opinion in favour of establishing a caliphate in Pakistan by overthrowing the government. As a first step towards their proposed revolution, they want to have an Arab-style uprising which would have the support of the armed forces.

If the organisation could not get generals to support its plans at the institutional level, it would seek officers who were supportive of its ideology to carry out its mission in an individual capacity.

After the arrest of serving army officers for their alleged links with Hizb ut-Tahrir, the government also detained some office bearers of the banned group.

Hizb ut-Tahrir has launched a campaign for their release, with posters seen on walls in different parts of Islamabad, condemning the arrests.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 25th, 2011.

Ground Zero mosque project clears major obstacle

NEW YORK, United States - Controversial plans to build a mosque near the site of the New York towers destroyed in the Septmeber 11, 2001 terror attacks cleared a big hurdle Tuesday as a city panel voted to end protected status for an existing structure on the site.

The city's Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously in favor of an application to end the protected status of the 1850s Italian Renaissance palazzo-style building near the site of the former World Trade Center.

The commission voted 9-0 in favor of removing the building at 45-47 Park Place from the landmarks list, said the body's chairman Robert Tierney. The building now houses only an abandoned clothing store.

Many applauded the decision, but others shouted "shame" and one women held a placard saying: "don't glorify murders of 3,000, no 9/11 mosque" and "Islam builds mosques at the sites of their conquests."

Supporters say the project will help build bridges between the West and the Muslim world and transform both the drab lower Manhattan street and the way Americans have looked on Muslims since the deadly attacks in 20011.

Boasting a mosque with sports facilities, a theater and possibly day care, the multi-story Islamic center would be open to all visitors to demonstrate that Muslims are part of their community, not a separate element.

But the proposed mosque's location, just around the corner from the gaping Ground Zero hole, where nearly 3,000 people died on September 11, 2001, has angered many New Yorkers who see it as an affront.

The polemic has promoted two US television networks to refuse to air a slick, highly confrontational ad by a group protesting plans for the mosque. The video titled "Kill the Ground Zero Mosque" includes references to the September 11 attacks with a voice-over saying, "On 9/11 they declared war against us ... That mosque is a monument to their victory and an invitation to more."

But Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other prominent city officials have spoken in favor of the idea.


---



New York - A private group on Tuesday won the right to build an Islamic centre, which includes a mosque, near the site of the destroyed original World Trade Center despite vocal opposition from victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

The Cordoba Institute said it plans to spend 100 million dollars to rebuild the site at 45 Park Place in lower Manhattan after New York's Landmarks Preservation Commission voted 9-0 against granting landmark status to the site.

The vote removed preservation status on the 152-year-old building, opening it to development. The Cordoba Institute said the Islamic centre will include a mosque, gym and also open the site to other facilities.

The Jewish Anti-Defamation League, local community leaders, some New York politicians and families of the more than 2,700 people killed on September 11, 2001 had strongly opposed a mosque near Ground Zero.

"This project raises serious, serious questions that must be answered," news reports quoted Rick Lazio, a Republican candidate for New York governor, as saying.

"Where does the funding come from for a 100-million-dollar mosque?" Lazio said. "The imam who's in charge of this has said America was responsible for the attacks on 9/11. In fact, his words were we were an accessory to the crime of 9/11. He has said Osama bin Laden was built in the US. These are not the words of a bridge builder."

But inter-faith groups defended the plan for a mosque, saying it would open the way to heal 9/11 wounds.

The American Society for Muslim Advancement's Daisy Khan said the new Islamic centre's board would include members of other religions. She does not rule out an interfaith chapel at the site.

"We want to repair the breach and be at the front and centre to start the healing," Khan said in The Wall Street Journal.


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By BOBBY GHOSH Bobby Ghosh – 1 hr 21 mins ago

The last legal hurdle to the proposed Islamic center near the site of the World Trade Center has been removed, but ignorance, bigotry and politics are more formidable obstacles. The unanimous vote Tuesday, Aug. 3, by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission means the building that currently occupies 45-47 Park Place can be torn down, clearing the way for Park51, a project known to its critics as the "Ground Zero Mosque." Criticism spans the gamut, from the ill-informed anguish of those who mistakenly view Islam as the malevolent(Having or exhibiting ill will) force that brought down the towers to the ill-considered opportunism of right-wing politicians who see Islam as an easy target.

(Ironically, Islam's roots in New York City are in the area around the site of the World Trade Center, and they predate the Twin Towers: in the late 19th century, a portion of lower Manhattan was known as Little Syria and was inhabited by Arab immigrants - Muslims and Christians - from the Ottoman Empire.) (Comment on this story.)

With city authorities now out of the way, it is the people spearheading the project who must bear the enormous pressure to give up their plans and scrap the building. They are being accused of sympathizing with the men who crashed the planes on 9/11 and of designing the project as, in Newt Gingrich's reckoning, "an act of triumphalism."

And yet Park51's main movers, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and his wife Daisy Khan, are actually the kind of Muslim leaders right-wing commentators fantasize about: modernists and moderates who openly condemn the death cult of al-Qaeda and its adherents - ironically, just the kind of "peaceful Muslims" whom Sarah Palin, in her now infamous tweet, asked to "refudiate" the mosque. Rauf is a Sufi, which is Islam's most mystical and accommodating denomination. (See the very best #Shakespalin tweets.)

The Kuwaiti-born Rauf, 52, is the imam of a mosque in New York City's Tribeca district, has written extensively on Islam and its place in modern society and often argues that American democracy is the embodiment of Islam's ideal society. (One of his books is titled What's Right with Islam Is What's Right with America.) He is a contributor to the Washington Post's On Faith blog, and the stated aim of his organization, the Cordoba Initiative, is "to achieve a tipping point in Muslim-West relations within the next decade, steering the world back to the course of mutual recognition and respect and away from heightened tensions." His Indian-born wife is an architect and a recipient of the Interfaith Center Award for Promoting Peace and Interfaith Understanding. (Can Sufism defuse terrorism?)

Since 9/11, Western "experts" have said repeatedly that Muslim leaders who fit Rauf's description should be sought out and empowered to fight the rising tide of extremism. In truth, such figures abound in Muslim lands, even if their work goes unnoticed by armchair pundits elsewhere. Their cause is not helped when someone like Rauf finds himself being excoriated for some perceived reluctance to condemn Hamas and accused of being an extremist himself. If anything, this browbeating of a moderate Muslim empowers the narrative promoted by al-Qaeda: that the West loathes everything about Islam and will stop at nothing to destroy it. (See Daisy Khan explain the role of women leaders in Islam.)

Rauf and Khan have said Park51 - envisaged as a 15-story structure, including a mosque, cultural center and auditorium - will promote greater interfaith dialogue. The furor over the project only underlines how desperately it is needed.

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Key backer of NYC Islamic center takes lesser role Buzz up!174 votes Share
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EmailPrint.. AP – FILE - In this Sept. 13, 2010 file photo, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf,
By DAVID B. CARUSO, Associated Press David B. Caruso, Associated Press – Sat Jan 15, 3:03 am ET
NEW YORK – The preacher who hoped to use his unsought fame as imam of the mosque near ground zero to start a dialogue about Muslims in America said he's taking a reduced role in the project so he can travel the country building "understanding among all people of faith."

Feisal Abdul Rauf, who co-led the effort to build an Islamic community center near the World Trade Center site, is set to begin a national speaking tour Saturday.

On the day before his first engagement in Michigan, the nonprofit group controlled by the developer of the Islamic center said it supported Rauf's work but needed someone who could spend more time on the nitty-gritty task of building a congregation.

The organization, Park51, said Friday that it had chosen Shaykh Abdallah Adhami, a 44-year-old scholar and architect, as a new senior adviser to lead religious programming in Rauf's absence.

It is unclear whether Rauf's reduced role in the center will help or hurt its chances of getting built.

An unknown in the U.S. before the controversy, he emerged as possibly the country's best-known Muslim cleric and found himself listed alongside world leaders and celebrities as one of 2010's most influential figures, even as he was vilified by critics of the project.

His reputation as a progressive and political connections won over influential supporters like the city's mayor.

Rauf, though, had also been criticized by some of the project's supporters for being absent at crucial moments.

Last summer, he left for a long State Department-funded trip to the Middle East just as the frenzy over the mosque was exploding at home. Then, he stayed silent for weeks, leaving mostly his wife, the community activist Daisy Khan, to respond.

And despite public perception, he was never the driving force behind the planned center. That role fell to the Manhattan real estate investor who controls the site, Sharif El-Gamal, who has spent recent months lining up financing and organizing the operation while Rauf served as the project's public face.

Rauf will remain on the Islamic center's board and involved in the project, but Park51 said in a statement that it needed someone who could be more involved in the day-to-day business of building a local congregation.

"Due to the fact that Imam Feisal is focusing most of his energies and passion on launching this new and separate initiative, it is important that the needs of Park51, the Islamic community center in lower Manhattan, take precedence," the statement said.

The group said that while Rauf's vision is "truly exceptional, our community in lower Manhattan is local."

Rauf's publicist released a statement saying that since he planned to spend the next few months traveling, a change made sense.

"Imam Feisal wants to meet the people of America where they are, to help build broader connection and understanding among all people of faith. To make that vision a reality, he is stepping back from the day to day details and operations of Cordoba House,"

the statement said.

Cordoba House was an original name for the planned community center that was dropped months ago by El-Gamal.

Rauf's continued use of the name was one of the many quirks of the complicated relationship between the two men. El-Gamal, who is also president of Park51 and controls its board, is a member of Rauf's congregation and has credited the imam with helping him find direction in his life.

Current plans for the center call for replacing a defunct clothing store two blocks from ground zero with a 13- to 16-story building that would hold athletic facilities, a day care center, art galleries, an auditorium for cultural events, a 9/11 memorial and a prayer space with room for a congregation of about 1,000.
Critics have assailed the project as insensitive, saying it is improper for a Muslim institution to be located so close to the site of an attack by Islamic extremists.

Adhami has already performed guest lectures at the site of the planned center while Rauf has been away. One of his appearances there came in August, at the height of media coverage of the project.

At the time, Adhami seemed to take the crush of attention with nonchalance(Casual lack of concern). His representatives invited reporters to cover his speech, only to have El-Gamal, who was unaware of the invitation, toss them out after they arrived. Adhami shrugged it off afterward as a misunderstanding and calmly fielded questions.

In a statement released Friday by a Park51 publicist, Adhami said he was being given "an extraordinary opportunity to be a key adviser on a project going forward that has enormous creative and healing potential for the collective good in New York City and in our nation."

Everyone associated with the project has had to endure intense, sometimes savage scrutiny, and Adhami is likely to be no different.

Born in Washington, D.C., he began his religious education as a child in Syria and later earned an architecture degree from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. He now lectures widely on issues of religious law, family and sexuality.