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                        <title>The Express Tribune</title>
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			<title>Norway mass killer Breivik found sane, sentenced to prison</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/425672/norway-mass-killer-breivik-found-sane-sentenced-to-prison</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/425672/norway-mass-killer-breivik-found-sane-sentenced-to-prison#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 24 Aug 12 10:42:58 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[Court finds Breivik responsible for acts of terror, sentences him to 21 years in prison.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Norway's mass killer Anders Behring Breivik was found sane and sentenced to 21 years in prison on Friday for a bloodbath that left 77 people dead and traumatised the normally tranquil nation.

An Oslo court's unanimous verdict finding Breivik responsible for "acts of terror" was in line with what the far-right extremist himself wanted, bringing to an end a spectacular 10-week trial for his devastating twin attacks.

On July 22, 2011, Breivik set off a bomb in Oslo that killed eight people and then took the lives of 69 more victims, mostly teenagers, in a shooting frenzy at an island summer camp.

"The ruling is unanimous," presiding judge Wenche Elizabeth Arntzen told the court.

"He is sentenced to prison for 21 years, with a minimum of 10 years," she added. Under Norwegian law the sentence could be extended.

Breivik, wearing a dark suit with a white shirt and a grey tie, smiled as the verdict was read out in court.

At the beginning of proceedings, after his handcuffs were removed, he made his far-right salute as he had during the trial, defiantly touching his clenched right fist to his chest and then stretching his arm out in front of him.

Survivors of the Utoeya island massacre took to Twitter immediately to comment on the sentencing, with Emma Martinovic tweeting: "YEEEEEEESSSSSSSS!!!"

And Viljar Hansse, who took a bullet to the head in the massacre, tweeted: "Finished. Period."

Breivik has previously said he would not appeal a prison sentence, as he wanted to be found sane so his Islamophobic and anti-multicultural ideology would not be considered the rantings of a lunatic.

And another Utoeya survivor, Ingrid Nymoen, tweeted: "This crap is finally over. Life can start now."

Knut Storberget, who was Norway's justice minister at the time of the attacks, hailed the verdict, telling television channel TV2: "It's a good basis for him to stay in prison for the rest of his life."

"It's the heaviest sentence he could get."

Norway's penal code does not have the death penalty or life in prison, and the maximum prison term for Breivik's charges is 21 years. However, inmates who after that are still considered a threat to society can be held indefinitely.

The 33-year-old loner had confessed to the attacks, seeing himself as a Nordic warrior against Europe's "Muslim invasion" and all those who promote multiculturalism.

The main question the court had to determine was whether he was sane and could be held responsible for his actions.

Ironically, the prison sentence is not only what Breivik wanted, but also what most of the families of the victims and the general public in Norway desired.

But Prosecutor Svein Holden had called for him to be sent to closed psychiatric care, arguing that "it would be worse to sentence someone who is psychotic to prison than to send someone who is not psychotic to psychiatric care."

Breivik, who laid out his hateful world view in a rambling 1,500-page online manifesto, was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and declared criminally insane after his arrest for the deadly rampage.

However, a public outcry led to a second assessment which found him legally sane – a view shared by most Norwegians in polls, and by Breivik himself who has said he would accept prison but appeal against closed psychiatric treatment.

In previous testimony during the trial that ran until June, Breivik laid out in chilling detail what motivated him to meticulously plan for years and then execute Norway's worst massacre since World War II.

On Friday, presiding judge Wenche Elizabeth Arntzen recounted Breivik's Oslo childhood, his later failed business ventures, including selling fake diplomas, and a trip to Liberia, before he moved back in with his mother.

From 2006 to 2008 he committed himself to the real-time online role-playing game 'World of Warcraft', for up to 16 hours a day, she said, and he later continued playing other games for an average six and a half hours a day.

He spent his time in seclusion penning his manifesto "2083: A European Declaration of Independence", the date marking the 400th anniversary of the 1683 Battle of Vienna which prevented the Ottoman empire from taking over Europe.

She recounted that Breivik called himself the "cell commander", "knight" or "perfect foot soldier" of a clandestine right-wing group called the Knights Templar, but the judge said the court "has found no evidence for the existence of the Knights Templar".

The court also heard about the lengths Breivik went to to plot his attacks.

Judge Arne Lyng said Breivik had bought two rifles, a pistol and a shotgun as well as ammunition in purchases from 14 retailers in four countries.

To make his bomb from chemical fertiliser, diesel and aluminium – with an explosive yield equivalent to 400-700 kilograms of TNT – he made 43 purchases from suppliers in five countries, said Lyng.

To train himself, Breivik took several courses of steroids, worked out at a fitness centre and went on hikes with a backpack full of rocks, Lyng said.

In the days before the attacks, he started taking a cocktail of ephedrine, caffeine and aspirin – a stimulant mix with an effect similar to that of amphetamine that boosts confidence, the willingness to take risks and leads to "increased risk of aggression and violence" according to experts, Lyng added.

He also practiced a meditation technique, borrowed from ancient Japanese warriors, "to de-emotionalise himself", and before the attacks played a total of 130 hours of shooting video game "Call of Duty", the judge said.]]>
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			<title>Oslo attack: Friends of Breivik testify about his 'Aryan' nose job</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/385898/oslo-attack-friends-of-breivik-testify-about-his-aryan-nose-job</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/385898/oslo-attack-friends-of-breivik-testify-about-his-aryan-nose-job#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 29 May 12 17:41:49 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[Claims he had the surgery because his nose was broken when he was attacked by a Pakistani.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Anders Behring Breivik, on trial for killing 77 people in Norway last year, was "tolerant" and "nice" when he was young and had a nose job to make himself look more Aryan, his childhood friends said Tuesday.

Testifying on the 26th day of the 33-year-old right-wing extremist's trial, four childhood friends described Breivik as a person very concerned about his appearance, who used makeup and was effeminate.

They also spoke of how he broke off all contact in 2006 as he became increasingly obsessed with politics, in particular Norway's immigration policy.

It was at this apparently crucial point in his life that Breivik, then 27, returned home to live with his mother and spent entire days playing video games.

His friends, who had until then considered him very sociable, cheerful and easy-going, did not understand the change they saw in him.

"I thought he had fallen into a deep depression or that he had become a homosexual and that he didn't want to come out of the closet," said a friend who has known him since secondary school and is now a lawyer.

Breivik's flatmate, whose name was not disclosed, described the gunman as vain, saying he was very concerned about his looks, did not have a lot of girlfriends and was effeminate.

"He presented himself as a metrosexual, like David Beckham," said the witness, who shared an apartment with Breivik for a while and who noted that he used make-up.

None of Breivik's former friends wanted him present during their testimony, nor did they want their identities disclosed.

Breivik, who listened to their testimonies from an adjacent room, disputed their claims.

"I've never ever been depressed in my whole life," he stressed.

"I've never been feminine," he added, explaining that he used concealer to cover up pimples before going out to town.

Another witness, the former girlfriend of one of Breivik's friends, meanwhile testified that she thought the killer had become "addicted to video games" in 2006.

After quitting school and launching several mostly short-lived start-ups, Breivik dedicated an entire year to playing the online role-playing fantasy wargame World of Warcraft.

He has told the court that in addition to being a hobby, the video games were "a cover" enabling him to work on his 1,500-page anti-immigration and Islamophobic manifesto that he published online just before carrying out his twin attacks on July 22, 2011.

That day, Breivik first bombed a government building in Oslo, killing eight people, before massacring 69 others on the small island of Utoeya, northwest of the capital, where the ruling Labour Party's youth wing was hosting a summer camp.

Most of those killed during his more than hour-long shooting rampage on the island were teens. The youngest victim had just celebrated her 14th birthday.

Breivik has claimed to be on a "crusade" against multiculturalism and a pending "Muslim invasion" of Norway and Europe.

The witnesses also testified on Tuesday about the nose job Breivik underwent in 1999 at the age of 20.

His closest childhood friend, a fireman, said Breivik wanted to make his nose look "more Aryan", while another explained that the killer was tired of being mocked for his "Arab nose."

But none of them saw it as a political message, perceiving it simply as an act of vanity.

"I've never in my life used the word 'Aryan' because it's an expression that comes from an ideology I do not support: national socialism," Breivik said.

He claimed he had the surgery for esthetic reasons but also because his nose was broken when he was attacked by a Pakistani.

But none of the friends he claims were there at the time recalled the event, nor two other clashes with Muslims which he said took place in his youth.

"He was rather tolerant and never looking for trouble," the fireman testified, adding: "I never saw him as extreme."

According to his former friends, Breivik -- who had become such a recluse that he had his mother turn them away when they showed up at his door on his birthday -- resumed contact again with them in early 2011.

Several of them said they thought he was "good old Anders". He was heavily into sports "to get into shape for the summer," one of them told the court.

The group of friends had a barbecue party together in late April, less than three months before the attacks.

"I didn't notice anything in particular," the fireman said.]]>
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			<title>Oslo attack: Breivik picked victims who had "leftist" look</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/368763/oslo-attack-breivik-picked-victims-who-had-leftist-look</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/368763/oslo-attack-breivik-picked-victims-who-had-leftist-look#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 23 Apr 12 15:23:05 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[reuters]]>
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				<![CDATA[He issued his first seeming apology to innocent bystanders hurt or killed when his fertiliser bomb went off.]]>
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				<![CDATA[The man who killed 77 people last summer to protest at Muslim immigration to Europe said on Monday he believed he could tell the ideology of his prospective massacre victims by looking at them, and tried to spare one who appeared "right-wing".  

"Certain people look more leftist than others," Anders Behring Breivik said on the sixth day of a trial that has tr ansfixed No rway, explaining how he picked off "Marxists" with his rifle and pistol while passing over a young man he thought looked conservative.

"This person ... appeared right-wing, that was his appearance. That's the reason I didn't fire any shots at him," said Breivik, 33, whose sanity or lack of it is a prime issue to be determined in the trial.

Breivik has given a detailed account of his car bomb attack at government headquarters in Oslo, which killed eight people, and a follow-up gun massacre at a Labour Party island camp where he killed 69, mostly teenagers, all within a few hours on July 22.

Most Norwegians have reacted with contained horror to the content of Breivik's testimony, delivered in a cold, matter-of-fact manner, while there is wide public acceptance of his right as a defendant to give it.

Breivik has had almost free rein to issue warnings against immigraton and explain how he scoured the Internet for bomb-making recipes while writing a 1,500-page document declaring himself part of a secretive group that is Europe's answer to Al Qaeda - a group the police have said likely does not exist.

Breivik has denied criminal guilt, insisting that his victims were "traitors" whose multiculturalist views facilitated what he saw as a de facto Muslim invasion of Europe.

Seeming apology

But on Monday Breivik issued his first seeming apology, to innocent bystanders hurt or killed when his 950-kilogram fertiliser bomb went off in Oslo. More than 200 were injured.

"To all of those ... I want to say I am deeply sorry for what happened," he said. "But what happened, happened."

He called his acts "a minor barbarity to prevent a larger one", apparently referring to Europe's supposed cultural decline.                The 22-year-old he chose not to kill, a Labour Party youth wing activist named Adrian Pracon, has told Reuters:

"I remember him pointing the gun at me for quite a long time before he took it down, turned and walked away."

Later in the rampage, which lasted more than an hour, Breivik came upon Pracon again as he played dead, and this time shot the son of Polish immigrants through the shoulder.

In another separate apparent bid to show he has a conscience, Breivik pointed out that he spared the life of a 10-year-old boy whom he had had in his rifle sights on the island.

"I could not understand what such a little boy was doing at a political indoctrination camp," said Breivik, whose victims were as young as 14.

The boy's name has not been released by the authorities but his father, Trond Berntsen, was an off-duty police officer serving as the island's security guard. He was Breivik's first victim, according to the indictment.

Ahead of the trial, which is expected to last 10 weeks, one court-appointed team of psychiatrists concluded Breivik was psychotic while a second found him mentally capable.

If Breivik is deemed sane, as he hopes to be, he could face a 21-year prison sentence with indefinite extensions for as long as he is considered dangerous.]]>
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			<title>Oslo attack: Breivik used computer wargames to plan attack</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/367140/oslo-attack-breivik-used-computer-wargames-to-plan-attack</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/367140/oslo-attack-breivik-used-computer-wargames-to-plan-attack#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 19 Apr 12 17:19:57 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[reuters]]>
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				<![CDATA[Once played Modern Warfare 17-hours straight, says he used such games to simulate the police response.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Norwegian anti-Islamic fanatic Anders Behring Breivik told a court on Thursday that he used computer games to prepare for his attacks, once spending an entire year isolated from society playing a game for hours on end.

Breivik, on trial for massacring 77 people last July, said he spent "lots of time" playing Modern Warfare, a first-person shooting game, and also took an entire year off to play World of Warcraft, a multi-player role-playing game with more than 10 million subscribers.

"I don't really like those games but it is good if you want to simulate for training purposes," Breivik said as he discussed Modern Warfare, smiling when asked about the aiming system.

Breivik killed eight people with a car bomb in Oslo on July 22 and then killed 69, mostly teenagers, at a Labour Party summer youth camp on Utoeya island, in a gun massacre.

Although he pleaded not guilty, he admitted the killings, saying his victims were traitors who supported immigration and multiculturalism, threatening Norwegian ethnic purity.

Breivik, who once played Modern Warfare 17-hours straight on New Year's Eve 2010/2011, said he used such games to simulate the police response and the best escape strategy.

"I calculated the likelihood of surviving unharmed at less than 5 percent," he told the court in his third day of testimony, referring to the bomb attack on government headquarters, when he expected to be swarmed by police officers.

"I trained myself to get out of such a situation. That is what I was simulating."

When he acquired the weapons for the actual attacks, he turned to Norse mythology in naming them.

"The rifle I called Gungnir, which is the name of the magical spear of Odin, which returns after you have thrown it. And the Glock I called Mjoelnir...It is the warrior god Thor's Hammer," he said, adding that he marked the weapons with their names in runes.

While playing computer games, Breivik said, he withdrew from his friends, saying personal relationships were not a priority. In 2006, he moved in with his mother to save money and rarely interrupted his game of World of Warcraft, even though his mother became anxious.

"Of course I couldn't tell her I was going to take a sabbatical because I am going to blow myself up in five years' time."

"During that year I played perhaps 16 hours a day. It was a lot. Only playing for an entire year -- playing and sleeping, playing and sleeping....It was a dream I had, and I wanted to do this."

Thomas Hylland Eriksen, a professor of social anthropology at the University of Oslo, said such computer games could put Breivik in a state of delusion.

"When he went out on Utoeya, possibly at some level still believing he was still paying a computer game and shooting people in real life," Eriksen told Reuters away from the court proceedings.

"He does not seem to be very successful at distinguishing between the virtual reality of world of Warcraft and other computer games and reality," he said.

Breivik's trial, set to last 10 weeks, turns on the question of his sanity and thus whether he can be jailed. He has said that an insanity ruling would be "worse than death".

One court-appointed team of psychiatrists concluded he was psychotic, while a second team found him to be of sound mind.

On Wednesday he said he should either be executed or acquitted, calling the prospect of a prison sentence "pathetic". Breivik has insisted he is a commander in a resistance movement but has acknowledged some of his claims were an exaggeration. He spent much of Wednesday defending the claim that it existed at all.

In court, he has Breivik struggled to defend his claim of being ordained into a militant-nationalist group called the Knights Templar in London in 2002 after preliminary contact in 2001, refusing to answer over 100 questions on the topic.]]>
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			<title>Oslo attack: Breivik deemed sane in new finding</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/362530/oslo-attack-breivik-deemed-sane-in-new-finding</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/362530/oslo-attack-breivik-deemed-sane-in-new-finding#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 10 Apr 12 15:30:33 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[Lawyer says Breivik to tell trial he regrets 'not going further'.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Norwegian Anders Behring Breivik was sane when he killed 77 people last summer in attacks he saw as punishing pro-immigration "traitors", a psychiatric team said on Tuesday, contradicting a prior report that found him psychotic.  

Breivik has insisted he is mentally stable and demanded that his attacks - the most violent in Norway since World War Two - be judged as political rather than the work of a deranged mind.

His trial on terror and murder charges is scheduled to start in Oslo next week and last 10 weeks. The new report could give judges grounds to sentence Breivik to prison.

Breivik, 33, has admitted detonating a bomb that killed eight people at government headquarters in Oslo on July 22, then massacring 69 people with gunfire at a Labour Party summer camp. Most of the summer camp victims were teenagers.

"We're talking about psychosis, and we have found no evidence of it," psychiatrist Asgar Aspaas told reporters after submitting the 310-page report based on weeks of round-the-clock observation.

Aspaas was one of two experts appointed to provide a second opinion after a previous team using different methods found Breivik to be a psychotic who also suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. The initial finding caused a public uproar.

"It's a completely open question now," said Jo Martin Stigen, a University of Oslo law professor.

"I don't think we can rule out that he will be considered legally sane in the end."

The dueling psychiatric teams are expected to defend their diagnoses in court, an unusual event in Norway. The final ruling will be made by a five-judge panel as part of its verdict at the end of the trial.

Breivik's attorney, Geir Lippestad, has said he would call political experts and historians to testify that Breivik's world view is shared by others. He would also call a radical Islamist cleric who holds a similar view that European and Islamic culture are irreconcilable.

If he is found guilty and the judges side with the latest psychiatric report, Breivik could face 21 years in prison with the potential for unlimited extensions to prevent him from repeating his crimes.

If Breivik is ruled psychotic he could face an indefinite period of psychiatric care in a locked facility.

District Judge Ina Stroemstad, who is not on the case, said the trial judges would now have to sort a tangle of evidence about Brevik's mental state, including his behaviour in court.

"There is a broad picture now, with elements that do not go in the same direction, and that might make their conclusion more difficult," Stroemstad said.

At a preliminary hearing Breivik denied criminal guilt and suggested his actions were part of a war to save European culture.

"I am a military commander in the Norwegian resistance movement and Knights Templar Norway," Breivik said, echoing a written manifesto in which he called himself "a hero of Europe, a saviour of our people and of European Christendom."

The new psychiatric report was not made public except for its main conclusions, while key parts of the prior evaluation made their way onto media websites.

"The background for the killings are his paranoid psychotic delusions that he is a participant in a civil war where he is responsible for deciding who lives and dies," the first report said.

"His mission is to save the entire western world's culture and genes."In a letter last week to news media, Breivik called the initial finding of psychosis a "humiliation" and said the experts seemed too traumatised by the killings to be objective.

Breivik to tell trial he regrets 'not going further': Lawyer

Breivik plans to tell the court he regrets "not going further", his lawyer said Tuesday.

"This will be extremely difficult, an enormous challenge to listen to his explanations," Geir Lippestad told reporters. "He will not only defend (his actions) but will also lament, I think, not going further."

The 33-year-old right-wing extremist also said he was "pleased" with the results of a new psychiatric probe that found him sane and criminally responsible, contrary to a first official exam that concluded late last year that he was suffering from "paranoid schizophrenia" and therefore criminally insane.

"His first reaction was that he was pleased with the conclusion" of the new expert report, Lippestad told reporters after discussing the new findings with his client.

"He also said he was not surprised, that he had been expecting this conclusion," the lawyer added.

Breivik, who has said being sent to a psychiatric ward would be "worse than death", wants to be declared sane, according to his lawyers, so as not to damage the political message presented in his 1,500-page manifesto published online shortly before the twin July attacks.]]>
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			<title>Police apologise for not stopping Norway massacre sooner</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/350448/police-apologise-for-not-stopping-norway-massacre-sooner</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/350448/police-apologise-for-not-stopping-norway-massacre-sooner#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 15 Mar 12 14:13:25 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[According to the police timeline, the massacre lasted for 75 minutes before Behring Breivik was arrested.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Norwegian police apologised Thursday for failing to stop Anders Behring Breivik sooner on his shooting rampage last July that left 77 people dead, admitting lives were lost as a result.

"On behalf of the Norwegian police I want to apologise that we did not arrest Anders Behring Breivik sooner," Norwegian national police commissioner Oeystein Maeland said in a statement that presented an evaluation report on the police response to the July 22 twin attacks.

"It is hard, knowing that so many lives could have been spared if the perpetrator had been arrested sooner," he added at a press conference.

The day of the massacre Behring Breivik, who has claimed to be on a crusade against multi-culturalism and the "Muslim invasion" of Europe, set off a car bomb outside government buildings in Oslo, killing eight people.

He then went to Utoeya island northwest of Oslo, and, dressed as a police officer, spent more than an hour methodically shooting and killing another 69 people, mainly teenagers, attending a summer camp hosted by the ruling Labour Party's youth wing.

Police came in for criticism after the attacks, in particular over the relatively distant launch point for an intervention force deployed to the island, as well as the choice of a simple rubber dinghy, which was overloaded and broke down.

According to the police timeline, the massacre lasted for 75 minutes before Behring Breivik was arrested.

"Could we have arrived on Utoeya sooner?" Maeland asked.

"The answer is yes. If the police boat had not been overloaded and broken down," he acknowledged.

"We can establish in all certainty that the police did not have the capacity to handle all the aspects of such an event on a regular Friday in July," he said.

However, the report stressed that "police carried out their duties as promptly as possible under the circumstances."

Among some 54 areas where the police had problems, the report highlighted poor communications, lack of competence, limited staffing and organisation, as well as poor management of victims, emergency hotlines and planning.

Now in custody at the high-security Ila prison near Oslo, Behring Breivik, 33, is scheduled to go on trial on April 16. He has been charged with "acts of terror" and could face life in prison or in a closed psychiatric ward.

A psychiatric evaluation of the confessed killer concluded late last year said that he suffered from "paranoid schizophrenia". A second opinion is currently under way.]]>
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			<title>Norway attacker got help to purchase equipment: Lawyer</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/224202/norway-attacker-got-help-to-purchase-equipment-lawyer-2</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/224202/norway-attacker-got-help-to-purchase-equipment-lawyer-2#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 04 Aug 11 12:28:09 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[afp]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=224202</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Breivik travelled to 20 countries in his planning, obtained weapons during those trips.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Anders Behring Breivik said he received help from abroad to  purchase the equipment needed to carry out his deadly July 22 attacks,  but will not say more until his political demands are met, his lawyer  was quoted as saying on Thursday.

"He obtained abroad almost all the material he used" to carry out the  attacks, the rightwing extremist's defence lawyer Geir Lippestad said  in comments published Thursday in the Verdens Gang (VG) daily.

He added his client had visited some 20 countries in his planning.

"He said that he met people and and that he obtained equipment during  those trips. He said many people helped him obtain the equipment," his  lawyer said following a third police interrogation of his client on  Wednesday.

The lawyer did not tell the paper if the alleged helpers shared Behring Breivik's views or if they were aware of his goal.

The 32-year-old has confessed to carrying out the twin attacks of July 22 which left 77 dead.

Eight were killed in a bomb he set off near the Labour-led government  offices in central Oslo. He then went on a shooting rampage on an  island where the Labour party's youth wing was holding a summer retreat,  killing 69, many of them teenagers.

Behring Breivik has said he carried out the attacks alone, something the police said was possible.

His lawyer told VG his client was refusing to provide more details  about the help he received abroad "until his extravagant demands on a  revolution in society were obtained."

In an interrogation session last Friday, Behring Breivik demanded the  government's resignation and the king's abdication, according to  Norwegian media.

He has said his acts were cruel but necessary as part of his  ‘crusade’ against the ‘Islamisation’ of Europe and multiculturalism.]]>
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			<title>Gilani expresses deep sorrow, grief over Norway killings</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/223479/gilani-expresses-deep-sorrow-grief-over-norway-killings</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/223479/gilani-expresses-deep-sorrow-grief-over-norway-killings#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 03 Aug 11 15:06:17 +0500</pubDate>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=223479</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Gilani visited the Norwegian embassy and conveyed his sympathy to the Charge d' Affaires.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday expressed his deep sorrow and grief over the horrific killings in Norway and urged all countries to stand united against extremism and take collective measures to counter it.

Gilani visited the Norwegian Embassy and conveyed his sympathy and condolence with the Charge d’Affaires of Norway, Tere Thodesen. He expressed deep grief over the loss of precious lives in the twin attacks at a youth camp and in the capital Olso that resulted in the deaths of almost a 100 people.

The Prime Minister said the people of Pakistan, also being the victim of extremism and terrorism, fully understand the shock and grief of the people of Norway.

He said the extremist approach needs to be countered as these acts were not confined to one country or region but negatively impacting the humanity.

The Prime Minister also signed the condolence book and wrote his remarks.

&nbsp;]]>
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			<title>Norway gunman's erratic demands puzzle investigators</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/223389/norway-gunmans-erratic-demands-puzzle-investigators</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/223389/norway-gunmans-erratic-demands-puzzle-investigators#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 03 Aug 11 12:33:30 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[afp]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=223389</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Before his court appearance earlier, Behring Breivik had asked to appear in uniform and to speak English.]]>
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				<![CDATA[To be named head of the army or force the king to abdicate: the man behind Norway's July 22 attacks has made a number of outlandish demands, and according to a report Wednesday considers himself the commander of an anti-communist resistance.

"Breivik. Commander. Involved in the anti-communist resistance against Islamisation. Mission accomplished and I will surrender to the Delta force:" were the words the 32-year-old rightwing extremist used in a call to the police emergency number 112 on July 22, the Verdens Gang (VG) daily reported.

Behring Breivik had just gone on a nearly 80-minute shooting rampage on Utoeya, where the ruling Labour Party's youth movement was hosting a summer camp, killing 69 people and injuring dozens of others, many of them teenagers.

Another eight people were killed earlier in the day, when he set off a car bomb outside government offices in Oslo.

The call, which came shortly before Behring Breivik was arrested by special Delta forces, lasted only three seconds, according to VG, which added that police attempts to get the killer back on the line had failed.

Police confirmed to AFP that a call was made from Behring Breivik's phone shortly before his arrest, but would not confirm that the killer himself made the call or the words used.

The report fits well with a string of strange and outlandish demands made by the gunman since he was taken into custody.

Before his only court appearance to date, behind closed doors on July 25, Behring Breivik had asked to appear in uniform and to speak English. Both requests were denied.

"He did not say why" he wanted to speak English, prosecutor Christian Hatlo told a news conference Tuesday.

Behring Breivik has also requested that a Japanese, rather than European, psychiatrist examine his mental state, according to his lawyer.

"This wish has to do with the concept of honour. He believes that a Japanese person will understand him better than someone from Europe," defence lawyer Geir Lippestad told financial daily Dagens Naeringsliv Tuesday.

And over the weekend, Norwegian media revealed that Behring Breivik, who has said he is on a "crusade" against Islam and multiculturalism, first told investigators he would only talk once the country's centre-left government and its military top brass had resigned and King Harald V abdicated.

He had also insisted to be placed in charge of Norway's armed forces.

Several psychiatrists have told AFP that Behring Breivik, who has published a 1,500-word manifesto about his "mission" and numerous pictures of himself posing with a smug smile and dressed in different uniforms, shows clear narcissistic and megalomaniac tendencies.

"He acts like a narcissistic being, with his ego, his uniforms and his manifesto sent out to lots of people," psychiatry expert Per Boerre Huseboe told AFP.

(Read: Madmen apologists)

Most experts however do not think the 32-year-old's mental state will keep him out of prison.

Two Norwegian psychiatrists have been tasked with examining him and making a recommendation by November 1 on whether he can be tried and held accountable for his actions.

Police meanwhile are closely looking into Behring Breivik's outlandish demands, which investigators suspect can provide valuable clues.

They are also investigating whether the rightwing extremist with no college-level degree had written his 1,500-page manifesto in perfect English on his own.

Police said Tuesday they were probing whether there was a connection with his half-sister living in the United States, who had been interrogated by US authorities.

"He speaks English fluently and says English is his working language. When we talk about chemical formulas or technical things, he prefers to do this in English," his lawyer Lippestad told the Dagbladet daily.]]>
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			<title>Madmen apologists</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/222679/madmen-apologists</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/222679/madmen-apologists#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 02 Aug 11 17:13:06 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[miranda.husain]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=222679</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Let us hope that this refusal to see Breivik as anything other than an isolated madman is born of naïve myopia.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Less than a week after the Norway terrorist attacks, launched in retribution for the country’s pro-Muslim immigration policies, a surprising number of British commentators have warned against reigniting discussions on the viability of European multiculturalism.

Such debate, of course, formed part of the official introspective narrative that consumed Britain after the 2005 London bombings. Yet for many, the difference between then and now is al Qaeda’s acknowledged involvement in 7/7.

Today, hiding behind an apologist rhetoric that claims aversion to any exploitation of the July 22 massacres by political point-scoring opportunists, many refuse to contemplate how Anders Behring Breivik’s actions followed a script not too dissimilar to that of al Qaeda.

The Guardian’s Simon Jenkins, a veteran and well-respected journalist, says that while the 2003 invasion of Iraq constituted terrorism, “killing Norwegian teenagers (not Muslims) to express some vague hatred for society is not. It is merely deranged.” But this was no vague hatred, as underscored by the targeting of the country’s political ruling political party — and its future generation — that Breivik saw as willingly complicit in subjugating the national culture to that of an Islamic one.

Thus Jenkins also rejects moves to try and dissect Breivik’s manifesto since “we do not need a mass killing in Norway to know that right-wing groups are distasteful and xenophobic.” In addition, he believes that to suggest possible links between such organisations merely feeds the hysteria, “publicising what is best ignored.”

Breivik posted his 1,500-page manifesto online and in English. Some believe that such is the fluency of language that he most likely enlisted the help of a native speaker to polish his message. Indeed, this document — “2083: A Declaration of European Independence” — could be described as not being too dissimilar to Inspire, the English-language e-zine published by al Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula. The latter aims to appeal to naturalised citizens already living in the West. Instead of enrolling in combat duty on the AfPak battlefield, they are encouraged to act as lone wolves and are shown how to assemble home-made bombs to wreak vengeance directly on enemy land.

The first portion of Breivik’s manifesto sets up the ideological context for his mission by lambasting Europe’s cultural elite for allowing Islam to take root in the continent. Even the title is significant, representing what would be the 400th anniversary of the siege of Vienna by Muslim fighters. The latter portion outlines the practical ways of acquiring weapons, ammunition and body armour. The objective? To “use terror as a method for waking up the masses” to the danger posed by Islam. And just as Breivik targeted the Norwegian state apparatus, so too, has al Qaeda urged Muslims to target so-called ‘apostate’ regimes that have sided with ‘infidel’ western governments.

But it is not just this that renders Jenkins irresponsible when he criticises UK Prime Minister David Cameron for ordering a review of far-right groups in the country.

Just like al Qaeda has forged links with other groups, Breivik — a supporter of the Norwegian Defence League (NDL) — hooked up with its British counterpart, the English Defence League (EDL). According to Searchlight magazine, a British anti-fascist publication, Breivik was reportedly Facebook friends with dozens of EDL and British Nationalist Party members. He was granted permission to attend an EDL march after expressing a wish to show solidarity with the group. But, says Searchlight, the links go even deeper. The NDL Facebook page is managed by a leading EDL organiser. In addition, Breivik’s favourite Norwegian anti-Muslim blogger, who goes by the pseudonym Fjordman and warns of an imminent multicultural world war, is a strong supporter of the EDL and an acquaintance of the man, described as a Christian fundamentalist, who helped set up and funded the EDL.

Let us hope that this refusal to see Breivik as anything other than an isolated madman is born of naïve myopia. And not of the belief that only those who harm us deliberately are terrorists.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 3rd, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Shocking but not surprising</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/222688/shocking-but-not-surprising</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/222688/shocking-but-not-surprising#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 02 Aug 11 16:43:20 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[tariq.fatemi]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
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			<description>
				<![CDATA[To characterise Breivik’s action an isolated act is wrong and dangerous, and amounts to sweeping it under the rug.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Though our hearts go out to the Norwegians in their hour of grief and anguish, the carnage carried out by a self-proclaimed anti-Islamic extremist, ostensibly to “save” Europe from “cultural Marxism and Muslim domination” was shocking, but not surprising.

Discerning observers had been pointing to growing misperceptions about foreign immigrants being exploited to create a nationwide fear psychosis that made such acts of violence inevitable. This may have begun as fringe thinking but gained credibility as people began to believe that the entire continent was threatened by a takeover by Islamic forces.

The self-confessed perpetrator was neither mad nor a loner, as confirmed by his writings. He was deeply influenced by a group of American bloggers, who have assiduously disseminated their claim that Islam represented a threat to western civilisation. Breivik also refers to leading European and American writers such as Daniel Pipes, Robert Spencer and others who have spearheaded a campaign to malign Islam as violence-prone, and its believers as incurable militants. He slams “political correctness”, while virulently condemning Islam and recommending for the Middle East a “crusade, an anti-jihad campaign”. Breivik also referred to a secret meeting of representatives from eight European countries in London in April 2002 to coordinate their activities. There is also evidence of his admiration for right-wing Israeli Zionists and Hindutva zealots, claiming that “our goals are more or less identical”. There also appear to be echoes of Osama in his writings, as both see themselves as engaged in a civilisational war between Islam and the West.

It would be tempting to characterise Breivik’s action as an isolated act but that would be wrong and dangerous, for it would amount to sweeping the problem under the rug. Hatred of Muslims and resentment of the left is not confined to Norway, but is present in the writings of some church personalities in the West. Traditional racism may be waning in European countries, but hostility towards Islam is on the rise, with anti-Semitism replacing Islamophobia. The continent is now littered with far-right parties such as the British National Party, Austria’s Freedom Party, Belgium’s Freedom Block and France’s National Front, which have begun to gain electoral acceptance.

The International Herald Tribune in its editorial on July 27 pointed to “a disturbing and growing intolerance across Europe for Muslims and other immigrants from Africa, Asia and the Middle East” and warned that “anti-immigrant and anti-Islamic parties are getting stronger”. These tendencies are, however, not confined to unknown politicians, but are even being adopted by “mainstream politicians, including Cameron of Britain, Merkel of Germany and Sarkozy of France, [who] have sown doubts about the ability or willingness of Europe to absorb newcomers”. It then recalls Chancellor Merkel’s declaration last October that multiculturalism “has failed, utterly failed”.

We in Pakistan would, however, be making a huge mistake if we were to seek any satisfaction from this tragedy. It is a reminder of the evil that men do and a haunting replay of our own tragedies unleashed by equally misguided individuals. Breivik’s attack also raises key questions about the relationship between those who claim guardianship of a faith while promoting a culture of violence. While the link between Islam and terrorism has been propagated assiduously by the western media, which explains why the climate of hate, intolerance and xenophobia has come to be tolerated, little attention has been given to growing fanaticism in Christianity or in Hinduism on the plea that these are actions of individuals and not religious groups. But they are equally dangerous and unless civil society and politicians summon courage and conviction to challenge extreme right-wing populism and battle all forms of discrimination, the militants will continue to grow in influence. Breivik’s vile act should instead lead to introspection and affirmation by civil society and mainstream politicians to challenge all actions and behaviours that incite hatred and violence. 

 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 3rd, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Norway gunman wants Japanese psychiatrist: Lawyer</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/222662/norway-gunman-wants-japanese-psychiatrist-lawyer</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/222662/norway-gunman-wants-japanese-psychiatrist-lawyer#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 02 Aug 11 12:57:04 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[afp]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=222662</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA['He believes that a Japanese person will understand him better than someone from Europe']]>
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				<![CDATA[The man behind the deadly twin attacks in Norway on July 22 wants a Japanese psychiatrist to carry out his psychological evaluation, his lawyer was quoted as saying Tuesday.

"My client has expressed a wish for a Japanese expert. This wish has to do with the concept of honour. He believes that a Japanese person will understand him better than someone from Europe," defence lawyer Geir Lippestad told financial daily Dagens Naeringsliv.

Two Norwegian psychiatrists have been tasked with evaluating the mental state of 32-year-old rightwing extremist and confessed killer Anders Behring Breivik.

(Read: The lethal son of Islamophobes)

They are set to make their recommendation by November 1 of whether he is sane enough to be tried for the attacks that killed 77 people and injured dozens of others.

"He has not said anything to me about refusing to talk to them," Lippestad stressed in the Dagens Naeringsliv interview.

Thomas Hegghammer, a Norwegian expert on terrorism and Islamic extremism, told AFP in a recent interview that Behring Breivik's 1,500-page manifesto detailing his "crusade" against a "Muslim invasion" of Europe, showed he was fascinated by the Japanese and Korean cultures.

(Read: Oslo attacker feared ‘Pakistanisation’ of Europe)

Based on the initial information available about Behring Breivik's reasoning and personality, several psychiatrists told AFP he was probably sane enough to be held accountable for his actions, meaning he could be tried and sentenced to prison instead of being locked up in a mental institution.

According to existing laws, he could be sentenced to up to 21 years behind bars if found guilty of "terrorism," although the sentence could be stretched to 30 years if he is also found guilty of "crimes against humanity."

On the afternoon of July 22, Behring Breivik first bombed government offices in Oslo, killing eight people, before going on an 80-minute shooting rampage on the nearby island of Utoeya, where the ruling Labour Party was holding a youth summer camp, killing another 69 people, most of them teenagers.

(Read: Oslo's many stories)]]>
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			<title>Oslo’s many stories</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/221400/oslo%e2%80%99s-many-stories</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/221400/oslo%e2%80%99s-many-stories#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 31 Jul 11 18:11:36 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[hisham.wyne]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=221400</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Zealous bigotry can come from anywhere, as can murderous tendencies.]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[The recent Oslo attacks have given rise to a number of narratives and much conjecture. As the dust swirls on the verge of settling, it might be pertinent to examine some of them.

At the outset, there was the initial suspicion that al Qaeda was behind the attacks. When this was disproved, social media, the Muslim world at large and several columnists — including Charlie Booker writing for The Guardian with his usual vitriol — condemned the ease with which the erstwhile punditry had jumped to the Muslim connection. It was shoddy, they said. It was uncalled for. It indicates hatred and suspicion for Muslims, they noted furiously.

Apologies, but I find that argument to be a bit disingenuous. The immediate aftermath of an attack always raises conjecture about the assailants. The multiple blasts fit the mould of an al Qaeda attack — they’ve used this technique on Pakistani and Afghani targets more than once. When reports of shooting surfaced, the immediate suspicion was that it was perhaps a team of urban guerrillas, akin to the Mumbai incidence. The chain of reasoning might have been a bit hasty, but it was largely sound. When there are blasts in Spain, first suspicion usually falls on the Basque separatists. Islamists are usually not fingered in an attack in the North of Ireland — the now defunct but still gasping Irish Republican Army is deemed to be the obvious culprit. Violence in India’s ‘Red Corridor’ is almost always ascribed to Naxalites. But the Oslo attacks fit the al Qaeda mould before they were fitted into the Oklahoma bomber cookie cutter.

Then there was anger directed at the media for having sanctimonious ‘experts’ analyse Muslim-related issues of immigration and integration despite there being little connection. This ire is justified. But lest one forget, 24-hour news channels are like fecund, bloated millipedes, gorging themselves on conjecture while excreting half-baked conspiracies. But these channels are a function of consumer demand; they’ll keep broadcasting as long as eyes are glued to the television. There might be a conspiracy, but it’s one of economics, not racism.

The fact that current media is more biased than a soccer mom at a local game, or more pointless than a broken pencil, is mere testament to a toothless audience that tolerates and watches.

On a more constructive front, the attacks have led to a sudden and immediate disjoin within right-wing parties, says David Crossland in The National. Brievek was once a member of Norway’s Progress Party, which has in the past espoused concern about Muslim immigration and the dilution of western culture. From France and Germany to Denmark and England, the far right has been increasingly active and has also gathered clout. The violence perpetrated by Brievek, following a far more extreme version of conservative ideologies, is forcing these parties into U-turns, and a forced disassociation from previous xenophobic rhetoric.

The attacks, if anything, have also reminded us all that the real battle is never between faiths, creeds and skin tones. It’s between the tolerant and the intolerant, the accepting and the dogmatic, the rationalists and the zealots. It’s an apt reminder of which side of the fence we need to fall on, and that ideologues don’t have a specific hue or facial features. Zealous bigotry can come from anywhere, as can murderous tendencies.

And finally, it’s been confirmed. Social media is irony’s coffin. In response to the unneeded Muslim connection in the Oslo attacks, the twitterati set up a tongue in cheek #BlameTheMuslims hashtag, where they noted that Muslims could be blamed for bad weather, fever, or anything anyone chooses. Of course, hours later, the initial sarcasm was lost on everyone, and yells emanated on the internet over the utter bigotry on display. Between the original purpose and the shrill screams of new indignation, the hashtag trended and trended — a reminder of the utter facile nature of it all. As someone tweeted, Twitter is where irony goes to die.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 1st, 2011.]]>
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			<title>The lethal son of Islamophobes</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/221405/the-lethal-son-of-islamophobes</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/221405/the-lethal-son-of-islamophobes#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 31 Jul 11 17:30:57 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[tanvir.ahmad.khan]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=221405</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Europe needs to do something about the hardening of religious, ethnic and racial prejudices on its soil.]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[If  the 32-year-old Anders Behring Breivik had not published his 1500-page ‘manifesto’ just before embarking upon the killing spree that left 76 dead in Oslo and a nearby island hosting a Labour Party youth camp, there would have been a tendency to dub him as a ‘lone wolf’.

European commentaries would have been dominated by portraits of a psychopath who perpetrated a monstrous crime for rather inexplicable motives. The manifesto documents the formative influences from prophets of hate on both sides of the Atlantic and shows linkages with anti-Muslim, anti-left and, above all, anti-immigration groups that practice violence to out-match that done by Europe’s right wing anti-immigration political parties. The state apparatus is mostly committed to the war against al Qaeda and the surveillance of small groups of ‘radical’ Muslim immigrants. A relative tolerance of neo-Nazi and white extremist groups has given them space to grow into a menace not only for Europe’s Muslims but also for the host states themselves.

Breivik represents the point of total horror that the tolerant European states never expected to see; they associate violence only with the “other”, the Muslims under al Qaeda’s influence. Consider the two main elements of the crusade that Breivik undertook. First and foremost, he wanted to fight the immigrants’ demographic “aggression”. He saw an Arab-Muslim takeover of Europe. In 2002, while in England, he revived the Knight Templars to save western civilisation from this dark fate. In his so-called “Declaration of European Independence”, the final climactic battle would have to be fought in 2083, i.e., 400 years after the Ottomans were turned away by a united Europe. Secondly, his ire got concentrated on the “Marxist culture” of the European left that created political parties that accepted immigrants and hoped either to integrate them or let them work and flourish under a policy of multiculturalism.

Every single sub-theme of Breivik’s writing echoes vast bodies of underground and rightwing journalism that has rapidly expanded in Europe. Breivik’s apocalyptic act to punish his own country is clearly linked with the policies of the ruling Labour Party that was guilty of opening the door to immigrants and treating them humanely in terms of education and employment. Worse still, the Labour Party was not dismissive of Palestinian rights for which it had faced occasional criticism from Israel.

Recently, three top leaders of Europe — David Cameron, Angela Merkel and Nicholas Sarkozy — have turned their back on multiculturalism with the exclusive French dream of integration perishing in the harsh realities of the banlieues (in French-speaking areas, suburbs of a city) as the state remained obsessed with head scarves rather than the socio-economic issues of unemployment, housing and a general sense of deprivation among the migrant Muslim community. The fact of the matter is that the fear of demography is greatly exaggerated.

According to Timothy M Savage (of the Office of European Analysis at the US State department), there are 15.2 million Muslims in the original pre-expansion EU. France has 5 million, Germany 4 million, the UK 1.6 million, Italy 1 million and Netherlands over 880,000. Austria, Belgium, Greece and Sweden have Muslim populations each ranging between 300,000 and 450,000. In the new EU member states, the entire Muslim population is estimated at 290,000 out of which Cyprus alone accounts for 200,000. The overall demographic profile of Europe does not justify paranoid reactions. With these figures, the conjuring up the nightmare of ‘Eurabia” must be rooted in a visceral rejection of the ‘other’, hyped up by the media and exploited by right-wing parties for electoral purposes.

The entire world shares the grief of the Norwegian people who have paid a huge price for their lofty ideals. But there had been no lack of danger signals. The day Geert Wilder’s party won 15.5 per cent of the vote in 2010 elections in the Netherlands, European governments should have sat up and discarded the myth that that fascism in Europe died for ever in 1945. The wars of Yugoslavia were a frightening reminder of atavistic urges in human communities. The electoral gains of extremist parties show that fringe elements of today can stake a claim to mainstream politics tomorrow. Europe needs to do something about the hardening of religious, ethnic and racial prejudices on its soil.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 1st, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Norway — ugly, but inevitable (II)</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/221408/norway-%e2%80%94-ugly-but-inevitable-ii</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/221408/norway-%e2%80%94-ugly-but-inevitable-ii#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 31 Jul 11 16:05:36 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[letter.]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=221408</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[European society is coming under the influence of far-right forces, still has its moral bearings more or less intact.]]>
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				<![CDATA[The world has some bright spots and some dark. An example of a very dark one would be the assassination of Salmaan Taseer, and another would be the tragedy that has befallen Norway. However, in the case of the latter, one would say that the massive outpouring of public outrage following the killings suggests that while European society is coming under the influence of rightwing and far-right forces, it still has its moral bearings more or less intact. Compare this to what happened following the killing of the Punjab governor and the reception that his killer received from many elements in Pakistani society.

Siraj Ahsan

Published in The Express Tribune, August 1st, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Another victory for the forces of bigotry</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/220737/another-victory-for-the-forces-of-bigotry</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/220737/another-victory-for-the-forces-of-bigotry#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 30 Jul 11 17:33:25 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[shaukat.qadir]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=220737</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Directly or indirectly, innocent Norwegian citizens; men, women, and children have died because of Islam.]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[On July 22, Anders Behrin Breivik, a blond blue-eyed Norwegian and a Christian, suddenly went berserk and began indiscriminately shooting people at a campsite in Oslo, killing 76. A moment’s silence, please, let us share the sorrow of their families.

The perpetrator was caught red-handed and confessed, yet in Norway, there was total disbelief. This could not have been one of their own; such an act in Oslo; not by a Christian? There had to be a Muslim connection! Sounds familiar? Yes, for years we, in Pakistan continued to delude ourselves too. Muslims don’t kill Muslims! There had to be an Indian, or Israeli, or CIA connection! But whether there was a connection or not, Pakistanis Muslims continue killing their brother, sisters and children.

In Oslo, there was a Muslim connection. Breivik says that he was enraged by the thought that Muslims were beginning to occupy Norway! But who did he kill? And I am not going to dwell on whether he was part of an organisation called ‘The Army of God’, and there is also considerable speculation and some evidence to indicate that he may not have been alone. Why did he target this camp and these Norwegians?

He alone knows the real reason or, if he was part of a group, other members might know. Based on media reports, I can merely speculate and, considering that Breivik was a victim of Islamophobia, the reason has to be connected to Islam. Apparently, the Norwegian foreign minister visited this particular camp the day before the tragic killing spree and was greeted with an unapologetic call for the rights of Palestinians with placards reading ‘Boycott Israel’! Could that have caused him to target the Utoeya Labour Youth Camp?

Doesn’t that sound familiar? Try crying out for the rights of Ahmadis, or Hindu or Christian minorities, or against the laws on blasphemy in Pakistani streets and join Salmaan Taseer!

Ironically, within hours of the incident, The New York Times (NYT) published an online report quoting an unnamed analyst, saying that an unknown Islamic organization, Ansaar-al-Jihad-al-Aalami, had claimed responsibility! It turned out that someone, using a false name had posted an argument on a website which translated to ‘This was Allah’s punishment for the evil that the west is doing in Libya and Afghanistan’!

Accusations of the NYT again acting on CIA’s instructions to stoke anti-Muslim rage in Europe ran rife and the online report by the NYT quietly disappeared! A well-known American radio show host, Alex Jones, is already referring to the Oslo incident as a “flag terror attack” intended to incite Islamophobia in Europe. Directly or indirectly, innocent Norwegian citizens; men, women, and children have died because of Islam. Breivik hated Muslims and killed innocent Norwegians (if my earlier speculation is correct), for supporting the cause of oppressed Muslims.

What will this lead to?

There will be some ‘rednecks’ for whom this will be enough to further stoke Islamophobia. This line of thinking goes something like this: If Muslims weren’t such evil beings, guilty of such crimes, no poor Christian Norwegian soul would have hated them so much as to kill these innocents.

For others, more reasonable people, it will be a clear signal not to support any cause relating to the oppression of Muslims.

Doubtless, there will be thousands of courageous Norwegians who will be even more determined to support the oppressed; any oppressed, irrespective of religion, colour, caste, or creed, but they are bound to be in a minority.

Whether or not it was a conspiracy, as Alex Jones thinks it is, the end result is inevitable. The ultimate global victors are forces of bigotry and obscurantism; those who cannot help spewing hate.

There can be no peace in the world so long as hate continues to thrive and this tragedy in Norway cannot but cultivate increasing hate.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 31st, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Norway — ugly, but inevitable</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/219340/norway-%e2%80%94-ugly-but-inevitable</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/219340/norway-%e2%80%94-ugly-but-inevitable#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 28 Jul 11 17:49:03 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[zarrar.khuhro]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=219340</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Europe’s mainstream politicians propagate views like those Breivik holds, so long as it keeps them in power.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Watching the initial coverage of the Norway massacre on BBC, I felt a tinge of sympathy for the news producers whom I could literally feel scrambling in the background. After all, with the shooter being a right-wing Christian extremist, the standard rundown they had prepared could no longer be used. Gone was the package on the cartoon controversy. Unusable was the old report on the 7/7 bombing. The rolodex of ‘experts’ on Islam and terrorism was now just a dead weight. Instead, several analysts and academics from a variety of Norwegian institutes and universities had to be trotted out.

European far-right parties, with their xenophobic, anti-immigration agendas and their persistent i Islam-bashing, have been gaining in power over the last decade. Their success cannot be measured so much by their electoral gains (which have also been significant) but by the widespread adoption of their agendas by the political mainstream. Take a look at French President Sarkozy’s deportation campaign against the Roma, which has been likened to WW2 roundups of ‘inferior’ races by the Nazis. Or else examine German Chancellor Merkel’s open denunciation of multiculturalism, eagerly parroted by UK Prime Minister David Cameron. Then there is the ban on minarets in a country which otherwise has no issues in growing rich off of Nazi gold and the ill-gotten gains of countless dictators. All of this is now politics as usual in Europe, and is driven largely by mainstream parties co-opting the radical agenda in order to gain votes. But the very fact that the votes are there to be gained speaks of an increasing acceptance of extremist views. Views like those Breivik holds. The same views that led to the murder of 76 people. The same views that Europe’s mainstream politicians have no problem propagating, so long as they will keep them in power.

The shooter (the appellation of ‘terrorist’ is only reserved for Muslims, apparently) was obsessed with Pakistan, this much is clear. But perhaps Europe’s leaders also need to take a closer look at the Pakistani example. For too many years we have parroted the same self-deluding line that the Norwegian analyst clung to. So many of us, myself included, have tried to reassure ourselves that the lunatic fringe is just that: A fringe. That it is incapable of seizing power or influencing policy. Time and again, to our collective horror and dismay, we have been proven wrong. Electoral success is an inaccurate measure of the power of the extreme right, whether in Pakistan or in Norway. A lack of success at the ballot box does not translate into an inability to use the bullet, and we must never underestimate the power of fear when it comes to influencing people and politicians alike.

Breivik may have been a psychopath (in the technical sense of the word), but he wasn’t acting in a vacuum. The ground in which the seeds of his ideology were planted has been carefully prepared over the years, and no one seems to have any interest in pruning the poison tree that has grown from those seeds. Is it any wonder then that it has started to bear such deadly fruit?

 

 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 29th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>No Norway trial before next year: Prosecutor</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/219184/no-norway-trial-before-next-year-prosecutor</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/219184/no-norway-trial-before-next-year-prosecutor#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 28 Jul 11 11:33:05 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[afp]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=219184</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Acting prosecutor says that given the huge and demanding investigation, the police need time.]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik will not be brought to trial before next year, the country's top prosecutor said Thursday, ruling out the laying of formal charges until at least January.

"We hope that we can conduct the court trial in the course of next year," the king's general prosecutor Tor Aksel Busch – the country's highest legal officer – told public broadcasters NRK.

The indictment for the 32-year-old, in solitary custody after acknowledging responsibility for 76 deaths in a shooting spree and bomb attacks, "will not be ready before the end of the year,"

"That's the starting point," he said. "And then, we'll see how long we will need next year."

Acting prosecutor Ingunn Fossgard told AFP on Thursday that given the "huge and demanding investigation, the police need time."

Police have so far cited the law on terrorism as the basis for possible charges, provoking public uproar given that the longest likely sentence would be 21 years – amounting to just weeks for every one of Behring Breivik's victims.

But prosecutor Christian Hatlo said this week that police are also envisaging charging him with "crimes against humanity" for the bombing of Oslo's government district and the shooting of participants in a youth camp on a nearby island.

(Read: Sad smugness after Oslo)

A conviction on this charge would carry a 30-year sentence.

"All possibilities are being explored," Fossgard said.

Behring Breivik admitted carrying out the attacks at his first court appearance on Monday when he was remanded in custody for eight weeks.

The 32-year-old says he was on a crusade to save Norway and Western Europe from a Muslim invasion and that the attacks targeting the Labour Party-led government and its youth wing were "cruel" but "necessary."

(Read: Anders Behring Breivik — a home-grown monster)]]>
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			<title>The Pakistanisation of lunacy</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/218473/the-pakistan-isation-of-lunacy</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/218473/the-pakistan-isation-of-lunacy#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 27 Jul 11 16:46:52 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[sami.shah]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=218473</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Norway, like Pakistan understands that actions of a random extremist is not representative of the majority.]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[It is an odd thing to feel relief when 76 people have died. But then, being Pakistani has become an odd thing to be. When the news coverage of the grotesque terrorism in Oslo began, the world watched it unfold with a sense of sadness. In Pakistan, we watched it with gritted teeth and clenched expectations. We had but one prayer, selfish but understandable: Please don’t let it be a Muslim. Specifically, please don’t let it be a Muslim who had received training on our soil. The eventual revelation that a blonde man with a distinctly ethnic Norwegian genetic skin tone had been arrested gave us a moment’s respite before we then started worrying about his being a convert. We are always told that Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. Unfortunately, no one details which Islam. The one practiced by the people around me who have a deep and unshakeable belief in the Almighty and his Messenger and find it a source of peace and comfort? Or the Islam that is subscribed to by the people running amok through the lives of those just described who have somehow found the message of submission to be one that requires mass murder and destruction. Fortunately, for the first time in recent memory, the attack was perpetuated by neither of these adherents. Instead, it was a lone lunatic who felt that the best way to protect his nation from dark forces he perceived was to slaughter the young. And so we all let out a sigh of collective relief, a sound that was effectively drowned out by the frantic back-scrabbling of ‘expert’ commentators on every single foreign news channel.

From the moment the first gunshot echoed through Utoya Island, and that last pane of glass shattered in central Oslo, every single person who had ever attended a class on foreign affairs or had passed within pinching distance of a Muslim was loudly proclaiming the clear guilt of al Qaeda. They did it with such solemn sagacity that one feels they are actually disappointed now that it has been proven to not be a Muslim at fault. The discovery that extremists can belong to any belief system and maybe it is something inherent in the person himself and not in the religion he subscribes to, that paradigm shift is causing them all sorts of motion sickness. All the nations who put a comforting arm around Norway in the initial moments of the attack, promising unity against this Muslim terror, are now backing away as if Norway vomited over it’s own furniture, telling it that it’s on its own in the clean-up.

The irony in all this, if you can manage to consider such a tragic event with cold scrutiny, is that the killer feared the “Pakistanisation of Europe”. His understanding of that phrase was that Europe would be full of small Muslim countries with extremist views. But his actions, instead, created another form of “Pakistanisation”, in the way that we Pakistanis understand it. Norway is truly like us now in that it, too, understands that the actions of a random extremist with a head full of bad wiring is not representative of the majority. That it takes a single day planned with fanatical focus to completely redefine a nation’s sense of security and identity. And that it will require the patience and understanding of a multitude to cope with the changed world that they now exist in. It is a reality we Pakistanis struggle against every day.

The primary description of the attacker in the media is that he is a ‘lunatic’. Let us hope that the next time an act of terror on such a scale occurs anywhere in the world, the same description is applied to the culprits, regardless of religion.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 28th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Norwegian killer is probably insane, his lawyer says</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/218342/norwegian-killer-is-probably-insane-his-lawyer-says</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/218342/norwegian-killer-is-probably-insane-his-lawyer-says#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 27 Jul 11 06:37:17 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[reuters]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=218342</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Lawyer says Breivik believes people will thank him one day, Police doubt claims that he was part of a network.]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[The lawyer of a Norwegian who killed at least 76 people in a bombing and a shooting spree said on Tuesday his client appeared to be a madman.

Friday's attacks by Anders Behring Breivik traumatized normally peaceful Norway, which has been struggling to come to terms with its worst peace-time massacre of modern times.

"This whole case indicated that he is insane," lawyer Geir Lippestad said of the 32-year-old Breivik, who has confessed to "atrocious but necessary" actions, but denies he is a criminal.

The lawyer said it was too early to say if Breivik would plead insanity at his trial, adding that his client might oppose this as he felt that only he "understands the truth" and a need, as he sees it, to combat "cultural Marxism" and Islam.

"He is of the view that he will be seen as a demon now but that people will thank him in 60 years," he said. Breivik's writings speak of a crusade to 2083, 400 years after the battle of Vienna when Christians began to defeat the Ottoman Empire.

(Read: Oslo attacker feared ‘Pakistanisation’ of Europe)

Lippestad said Breivik had stated he belonged to a radical network that has two cells in Norway and more abroad. But police believe Breivik probably acted alone in staging his bloody assaults, which have united Norwegians in revulsion.

(Read: Norway court hearing: Gunman claims ‘active network’ of support)

Lippestad, a member of the Labour party whose youth wing was the target of his client's shooting rampage on an idyllic island, said he would quit if Breivik did not agree to psychological tests.

He was previously best known for defending a right-winger who in 2002 got 17 years in prison for the racially motivated murder of Benjamin Hermansen, 15, whose father was African.

Police detonated on Tuesday night a cache of explosives found at a farm rented by Breivik. No one was hurt in the controlled explosion about 160 km (100 miles) north of Oslo.

Police believe that Breivik made the bomb he set off in central Oslo using fertiliser which he had bought under the cover that he was a farmer.

In Washington, US President Barack Obama wrote a message of condolence at the Norwegian ambassador's residence, saying he was "heartbroken by the loss of so many people, particularly youth with the fullness of life ahead of them".

Norwegian Justice Minister Knut Storberget deflected criticism that police had reacted too slowly to the shooting massacre, hailing their work after the attacks as "fantastic".

Response time

An armed SWAT team took more than an hour to reach Utoeya island, where Breivik was coolly shooting terrified youngsters at a Labour Party youth camp. He killed 68 there and eight in an earlier bombing of Oslo's government district.

Storberget also denied police had ignored threats posed by right-wing zealots in Norway, saying: "I reject suggestions that we have not had the far-right under the microscope."

Many Norwegians seem to agree the police do not deserve opprobrium for their response. At a rally of more than 200,000 in Oslo on Monday night, people applauded rescue workers.

The streets were full of red and white roses left after the rally, Norway's biggest since World War Two.

Oslo police published the first names of the dead on Monday evening -- three who were killed in Oslo and one on the island. The official list would be expanded daily, they said.

Norwegian newspapers have already published more names, the youngest was 14. Many were teenagers or in their early 20s.

Norway has felt some relief that Breivik seems to have acted alone in trying to save Europe from "cultural Marxism" and a "Muslim invasion" by striking at the ruling Labour Party that he blamed for allowing multiculturalism.

Storberget told Reuters television that Norway had received a "hard lesson" but would remain an open and free democracy, even as it made unspecified changes to improve security.

"We don't want this horrible man to change Norway," said Lars Andersen, a retired military officer. "And he won't. People aren't talking about revenge but uniting behind our values."

Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere and Crown Prince Haakon visited a Mosque on Tuesday evening to reaffirm a rejection of Breivik's views. Many people wrongly initially suspected that al Qaeda had been behind Friday's bombing.

(Read: Everyone thought it was Islamic militants: Oslo taxi driver)

Police defended themselves from suggestions that some alarm bells should have rung about Breivik. The PST security police say Breivik's name appeared only once, on an Interpol list of 50 to 60 Norwegians, after he paid 120 crowns ($22) to a Polish chemicals firm on a watch list. They found no reason to react.

Researchers doubt Breivik's claim that he is part of a wider far-right network of anti-Islam "crusaders", seeing it as bragging by a psychopathic fantasist who has written that exaggeration is a way to sow confusion among investigators.

Breivik's 1,500-page manifesto said he went to a meeting in London in 2002 of the "Knights Templar Europe", a group that experts doubt exists but say cannot be dismissed out of hand.

"Err of the side of caution," said Martin Feldman, who runs the Radicalism and New Media Research Group at the University of Northampton and is a leading expert on right-wing extremism in Britain.

"Not psychotic"

Yngve Ystad, a Norwegian forensic psychiatrist and adviser to the police, said it was unlikely that Breivik would be found to be psychotic and thus unaccountable for his actions, or would even be able to claim diminished responsibility.

"He had planned the crime and he was not in that way disturbed by psychotic or delusional ideas because this has been going on for a very long time and, according to the press, he has not been disturbed or suffered severe disturbances."

So far Breivik has been charged with "destabilising or destroying basic functions of society" and "creating serious fear in the population". Police attorney Christian Hatlo has said Breivik expects to spend the rest of his life in jail.

In signs that police are sceptical that Breivik was part of a wider network, border controls imposed on July 22 were lifted late on Monday. Norway has not asked other countries to launch probes, nor has it raised the threat level for terrorism.

Even the final entry in Breivik's own manifesto says on July 22: "The old saying: 'if you want something done, then do it yourself' is as relevant now as it was then."]]>
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			<title>Norway killer could get 30 years: Prosecutor</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/217668/norway-killer-could-get-30-years-prosecutor</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/217668/norway-killer-could-get-30-years-prosecutor#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 26 Jul 11 08:59:42 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[afp]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=217668</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Prosecutor Christian Hatlo says the new charge was currently only &quot;a possibility&quot;.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Norwegian police could seek to charge the man who says he carried out last week's killings of 76 people with crimes against humanity, which would carry a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison.

The new charge against Anders Behring Breivik would mean he could serve more than the current 21 years he faces for terrorism-related charges after Friday's twin bombing and shooting, a term that many Norwegians feel is not long enough.

Prosecutor Christian Hatlo told Tuesday's Aftenposten newspaper that the new charge, which became possible after entering into law in 2008, was currently only "a possibility".

"Police have so far cited... the law on terrorism but seeking other charges has not been excluded," police spokesman Sturla Henreiksboe told AFP.

"No final decision has yet been taken," he said.]]>
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			<title>Amitabh Bachchan hopes for 'peace gadget'</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/217636/amitabh-bachchan-hopes-for-peace-gadget</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/217636/amitabh-bachchan-hopes-for-peace-gadget#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 26 Jul 11 06:29:06 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[ians]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Gossip]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=217636</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[The 68-year-old is wishing that science had some answers to curb hatred.]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[The terror attacks in Norway have made megastar Amitabh Bachchan wonder if science and technology can come up with a device that can remove hatred and violence from the world.

"Reading seeing and hearing all the vivid descriptions of the carnage in Oslo, Norway has been such a disturbing and unbelievable moment. The madness of mankind in such state shows the vulnerability of life itself for us all," Big B posted on his blog Bigb.bigadda.com.

"We live in times of trial and uncertainty, on hope and God's will. The entire human community seems polluted with corrupt thought. What will it require to defuse that ? What would it need to be closer to sanity - those that propose saner elements often end up as victims, remembered, flowered and monumented in stone if of important caliber," he added.

Now the 68-year-old is wishing that science had some answers to curb hatred.

"Were there a process within science to remove hatred and violent thought from the nature of the human, the world would be an enviable paradise. Medicine and medical scientists work tirelessly to remove disease from the future. So many examples of these have been enumerated so successfully," Big B posted.

"Can you please Mr Scientist remove the above as well .. save us from this every day devastation, this unbearable blow to our inner systems. We are all damaged, hurt and in deep pain. Deliver us oh lord from this unwanted occurrence. We have been tried and tested beyond all … now protect and save us," he added.

The attack carried by a right wing Christian Friday massacred 84 people on an island in Norway, soon after carrying out a deadly bombing in Oslo that killed seven people.]]>
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			<title>Norway court hearing: Gunman claims ‘active network’ of support</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/217579/norway-court-hearing-gunman-claims-%e2%80%98active-network%e2%80%99-of-support</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/217579/norway-court-hearing-gunman-claims-%e2%80%98active-network%e2%80%99-of-support#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 25 Jul 11 23:54:47 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[agencies]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=217579</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Death toll revised downwards to 76; Oslo court remands Breivik in custody.]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[While police think that Oslo gunman Anders Behring Breivik was a lone wolf, the self-confessed perpetrator of last week’s gun and bomb attack in Norway claimed on Monday that he had an active network of accomplices - with two working cells.


Breivik was remanded in police custody for eight weeks - four of which will be spent in solitary confinement.

Meanwhile, Norwegian police on Monday lowered the overall death toll from twin bombing and shooting attacks to 76.

Senior Oslo police official Oeystein Maeland said the number of people killed by a downtown bomb went up one to eight, and that the count from a mass shooting on a nearby island fell from 86 to 68. The overall toll was previously given by police as 93.

All the bodies have been removed from the island shooting allowing for a more exact death toll, Maeland said. “This figure could still go up,” he added, and “the search (for bodies) is ongoing.”

A court in Oslo on Monday remanded Anders Behring Breivik in custody for eight weeks.

The 32-year-old suspect was refused permission to appear in a uniform at his first appearance in an Oslo court.

The judge also ruled in the closed door hearing that Behring Breivik be held in solitary confinement for the first four weeks of an eight-week period in custody, with a ban on all communication with the outside world in a bid to aid a police investigation.

The suspect told the court hearing he had “two further cells” in his organisation, according to the court registrar.

Judge Kim Heger told reporters that the suspect told the court he wanted to “send a powerful signal” around Europe that Marxist and Muslim colonisation had to end.

“Despite that the accused has acknowledged the actual circumstances, he has not pleaded guilty,” the judge said.

Behring Breivik’s brief appearance came around an hour after the country had marked a minute’s silence for the victims of last Friday’s bomb and shooting spree which left 76 people dead.

Thousands of people had earlier bowed their heads in silence outside Oslo’s main university at a ceremony led by Prime Minister.

Behring Breivik arrived at the court and left in an armoured Mercedes via a back entrance to the courthouse in downtown Oslo.

People waiting to catch a glimpse of him cried “traitor” and “bloody killer,” Norway’s NTB agency said.

Before the attack, Behring Breivik wrote a 1,500-page manifesto, datelined London. He boasted he was one of up to 80 “solo martyr cells” recruited across Western Europe to topple governments tolerant of Islam.

Behring Breivik currently has only the status of “official suspect,” meaning he will not learn actual charges until the investigation is concluded with police still hunting for possible accomplices.

But the attacks have triggered calls for Norway to reinstate the death penalty. The maximum prison sentence in Norway is 21 years, meaning the accused could be awarded just 82 days per killing.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 26th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Cut from the same cloth</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/217049/cut-from-the-same-cloth</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/217049/cut-from-the-same-cloth#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 25 Jul 11 17:42:02 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[editorial]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=217049</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Islamic militants and far-right xenophobes are cut from the same cloth. Both have a penchant for violence.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Whenever a terrorist attack takes place, Muslims around the world are doubly apprehensive. Not only is there the usual anger that innocent lives have been senselessly taken, it is compounded by fear that those responsible for the attack are also Muslim. In Pakistan, the fear is further ratcheted up by the fact that there is a very strong possibility that the terrorists are either Pakistani citizens, of Pakistani origin or received training here. That the twin attacks in Oslo were carried out by a far-right, Islamophobic Norwegian has led to sighs of relief, and even some gloating, among Muslims. Most international news organisations were quick to speculate that al Qaeda or another Islamic militant group was responsible for the attacks. As glad as some of us might have been to see them proven wrong, the correct response would be to express sorrow, not glee.

The world has discussed ad nauseum just how much of a threat radicalised Muslims pose to the ‘West’, maybe now we can also start a debate on the opposite phenomena: Extreme right-wingers who are willing to resort to violence out of hatred for Muslims. In the years after 9/11, there has been a marked increase in hate crimes against Muslims across the West. Particularly in Europe, far-right political parties have made electoral gains campigning for a ban on immigration. Anti-Muslim rhetoric by parties like the British National Party has been extreme and it was only a matter of time before their sympathisers decided to use bombs rather than words to express their anger. Islamic militants and far-right xenophobes are cut from the same cloth. Both have a penchant for violence, are extremely insular and want to impose their beliefs on those unwilling to adopt them. So long as they restrict themselves to proselytising, a free society must accommodate them. But when they start carrying out attacks like the ones in Oslo, it is time to take action. After 9/11, US President George W Bush took a “for us or against us” stance, while the Norwegian prime minister has said that terrorists can be defeated with “more democracy” and “more freedom”. In a battle of world views, the latter approach is always preferable.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 26th,  2011.]]>
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			<title>Sad smugness after Oslo</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/217047/sad-smugness-after-oslo</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/217047/sad-smugness-after-oslo#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 25 Jul 11 17:25:40 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[saleem.h.ali]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=217047</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Because one Christian fundamentalist committed terrorism in Norway does not exonerate Islamic fundamentalists.]]>
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				<![CDATA[As the news of the horrific terrorist attacks in Oslo unfolded, I must admit that my first inclination was to suspect jihadist forces at work. A few years ago, I had attended a Friday khutba at a mosque in Oslo and had been shocked by the level of political vitriol which the Urdu-speaking cleric at the mosque was hurling at the West. Several threats had been made against Norway by Muslim fanatics, as well as by Libyan leader Qaddafi, regarding Norway’s military involvement with Nato. Thus to assume a possible connection of such an attack to Muslim extremism was understandable.

The Pakistani community in Norway is the largest ethnic minority in the country, and while many of them have assimilated quite well and are serving in numerous professional positions, there are also others who remain on the margins. The same is true of other Muslim immigrants in Scandinavia. An unfortunate clash of cultures has indeed led to a rise in right-wing extremism across this otherwise peaceful and egalitarian region.

Pakistani-born Danish activist Bashy Quraishy has documented cases of racism against Muslims in the region. What is remarkable about Mr Quraishy’s work is that he is not religious personally, but has championed the cause of Muslims in Scandinavia and Europe in the face of rising extremism. No doubt, we have a clash of extremism that has turned malignant and must be addressed. The Oslo attacks will perhaps catalyse greater action in this regard and more soul-searching among conservative political parties in Europe. In this regard, it is important to keep the pressure on western media venues to be fair in their reporting and analysis and to give Muslims due respect and the benefit of any doubt.

Yet there was an unfortunate reaction from the Muslim world that is also palpable after this attack. As soon as it was revealed that the attacker was a non-Muslim, emails and tweets started coming through of Muslims feeling vindicated that this time it was not one of them. Implicit in this reaction was a disturbing smugness that we Muslims are now beyond reproach and are victims of a western media ‘smear campaign’. No doubt the media should have waited before jumping the gun and suggesting Muslim connections to the attack. In particular, The New York Times article right after the attacks was particularly irresponsible by quoting some rumours about an Islamist connection.

However, Muslims must not become complacent and need to be shocked out of denial and realise that the most pernicious terrorist attacks within Muslim countries, including Pakistan, are indeed caused by Islamic fundamentalists. We constantly have to deal with fundamentalism on a daily basis in Pakistan because of a paranoid view of the world where fanatics want everyone else to respect them and their interpretation of faith, and who consider anyone who disagrees with them as ‘infidels’. Note how many moderate Muslim scholars such as Javed Ghamdi have fled the country for this reason. So let’s not sink into a ‘victim complex’ and let’s not ignore these serious challenges.

Because one Christian fundamentalist terrorist committed a vile and despicable act in Norway does not exonerate or diminish the seriousness of the problem of Islamic fundamentalism. While I hope this tragedy will make western organisations reconsider their assumptions about the source of terrorism, it is essential that this is not used as an excuse by Muslims to become sanguine about the problem in their own house. All forms of absolutist ideologies have to be resisted whether right wing, left wing or flightless follies that might later take wing!

Published in The Express Tribune, July 26th,  2011.]]>
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			<title>Anders Behring Breivik — a home-grown monster</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/217053/anders-behring-breivik-%e2%80%94-a-home-grown-monster</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/217053/anders-behring-breivik-%e2%80%94-a-home-grown-monster#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 25 Jul 11 16:22:28 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[hans-inge.lango]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=217053</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[The single most horrific act of violence in modern Norwegian history was perpetrated by one of our own.]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[A sombre mood hung over Oslo on the Saturday evening of July 23, as people tried to make sense of the two terrorist attacks the previous day. A new and thoroughly unexpected enemy had emerged — not from outside, but from within. The streets were filled with people, but an unusual calmness permeated the crowds. Block after block was cordoned off with armed soldiers, police tape and flowers. Outside the main church, people stood in line waiting to go in and perhaps find some comfort. Even with the suspected perpetrator in police custody, it will take a long time for Norwegians to make sense of this tragedy and figure out how a seemingly peaceful society can produce such a brutal mass murderer. As the attacks were happening, Norwegians were gripped by fear. Who could do this? Who is behind this? Many assumed, including myself, that this was the act of a jihadist terrorist organisation like al Qaeda. It turned out to be nothing of the sort. The man arrested, who has since admitted to committing both attacks, is named Anders Behring Breivik. He is a 32-year-old tall, blonde, white man of Norwegian descent. He is what you typically refer to as a home-grown terrorist.

Make no mistake about it, Breivik is a terrorist. His acts were political in nature and deed. He targeted the heart of the political system in Norway in order to affect political change. Unweaving the intricacies of his ideology, though, is not easy. Breivik is a Christian fundamentalist and could be described as a right-wing radical, but he is not a neo-Nazi. In fact, he claims to be a Zionist. In his manifesto, publicised online on Friday, July 22, it is clear that Breivik was driven by rampant anti-Islamism, a hatred for Marxism and general disdain for multiculturalism. Breivik was advocating counter-jihad (ironically, he acknowledges drawing inspiration from al Qaeda), but as part of a larger plan to separate Europe from the rest of the world. Part of this process would include cleansing the European continent of Marxists and other perceived traitors. In that sense, Breivik is not strictly a nationalist, but a pan-European nationalist. It is in this light we have to examine Friday’s attacks. They were targeted at the political establishment in Norway, not immigrants. It was an attack against the system and the democracy that allows Norway to be an open society for people of all origins.

Europe has long struggled with right-wing radicals, a remnant of its fascist history. While it has rarely reached into the mainstream, every now and then a political party, be it in Austria or the United Kingdom, has come into the spotlight and been given a microphone for its xenophobic ideas. Most of the time, however, it has festered in the underbelly of society. In its latest open threat assessment, the Norwegian Police Security Service downplayed the risk of right-wing attacks but noted that new leadership could increase recruitment. Cooperation across borders with other likeminded radical groups could also become a danger. The fear now is that others will duplicate the acts of Breivik. His ideas could inspire others, as well as his methods. Unfortunately, it is nigh impossible to stop a lone wolf terrorist, because there is no network to infiltrate and no communication to intercept. Preventing such attacks from happening again will be difficult and will require all of society to speak up against the ideas at the root of Breivik’s convictions.

It is a cruel irony that attacks first thought to have been the work of a Muslim were, in fact, acts motivated by a hatred of Islam. This realisation comes with the lesson that the single most horrific act of violence in modern Norwegian history was perpetrated by one of our own. As we examine the rationale behind Breivik’s madness, we must also ask ourselves whether our own fear of external threats have helped such hatred grow. If there is anything to take away from this tragedy, besides an individual’s unlimited capacity for evil, it is that some of the worst monsters are the ones from within. It may be too early to say how Norwegians will respond to these tragic events, but Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg offered strong guidance: “We must never give up our values. We must show that our open society can pass this test too. That the answer to violence is even more democracy.” Norway will persevere. Though we mourn the loss of countless lives, our bonds of society are too strong for one madman to sever.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 26th,  2011.]]>
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			<title>Norway terrorist detained, claims to have collaborators</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/217034/norway-terrorist-detained-claims-to-have-collaborators</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/217034/norway-terrorist-detained-claims-to-have-collaborators#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 25 Jul 11 14:14:41 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[afp]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=217034</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[The suspect admitted the facts of the case, but did &quot;not plead guilty,&quot; judge Kim Heger said.]]>
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				<![CDATA[A judge ordered eight weeks detention on Monday for the Norwegian man who has admitted a bombing and shooting massacre that killed about 90 people and who claimed in court to have two more groups of collaborators. 

Custody, in line with prosecutors' request, will allow them to investigate the case against Anders Behring Breivik, 32, an anti-Islamic terrorist who has previously claimed sole responsibility for Friday's attacks. The custody can be extended.

The suspect admitted the facts of the case, but did "not plead guilty," judge Kim Heger said after the closed-door hearing.

Judge Kim Heger said that Breivik would be locked up alone with no incoming letters, media nor visitors except for his lawyer. A trial could be a year away.

"The accused has made statements today that require further investigation, including that 'there are two more cells in our organisation," Heger told a news conference.

Breivik told the court that he acted to save Europe from Islam. He had previously said he had acted alone.

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[poll id="449"]

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			<title>Everyone thought it was Islamic militants: Oslo taxi driver</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/216993/everyone-thought-it-was-islamic-militants-oslo-taxi-driver</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/216993/everyone-thought-it-was-islamic-militants-oslo-taxi-driver#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 25 Jul 11 10:18:54 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[afp]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=216993</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA['On Friday, after the explosion, I didn't go to work, I stayed at home,' said taxi driver Muahammad Ali Farah.]]>
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				<![CDATA[In the aftermath of the twin attacks that left 93 people dead, Oslo's Muslim community has told how they felt under suspicion after what was initially feared to have been an assault by Islamic militants.

In the streets of the capital on Sunday, many Muslims said they lived the first few hours after the car bomb explosion fearing the finger of blame was being pointed at them.

"On Friday, after the explosion, I didn't go to work, I stayed at home," said taxi driver Muahammad Ali Farah.

"I was scared, like all the taxi drivers – 99.7 per cent are immigrants, you see," said the 30-year-old, originally from the Somali capital Mogadishu.

"Everyone thought it was Islamic militants. My boss is Pakistani, he understood, he knows the problem. I didn't go back to work until Saturday."

Namir Atif, 30, said: "I feel Norwegian, I was born here but I am of Moroccan origin. It's true that everyone immediately thought it was an Islamic militant attack, they pointed the finger at us."

When Justice Minister Knut Storberget informed journalists that the suspect was Norwegian, he "almost looked sorry it wasn't a foreigner", Atif said.

In a report made public at the beginning of the year, Norwegian state security expressed fears of an Islamic militant attack on their soil but did not consider the extreme right as a "serious threat".

In the hours that followed the attacks, authorities said they were considering all possible scenarios, including an attack by Islamic militants. Yet it was native Norwegian Anders Behring Breivik, 32, a "Christian fundamentalist" with far-right leanings who was ultimately arrested.

At least seven people were killed in a car bomb blast outside government buildings in central Oslo and 86 died after the mass shooting on the island of Utoeya, 40 kilometres away (25 miles), where a Labour party youth meeting was being held.

Naima, a woman from Morocco who did not want to give her full name, said she arrived in Oslo three months ago.

She said she feels happy here but admitted to being worried immediately after the bomb explosion, which occurred not far from where she lives.

Naima said she realised that the nearby Muslim community would be under suspicion.

"They arrested a Moroccan a few hours after for no reason," said a young Tunisian man who did not give his name as he said he did not have residency papers.

Sitting on a cafe terrace with several others, he is annoyed that the Muslim community is always held responsible "the moment a bomb explodes".

A Palestinian man added: "Norway is my country, Muslims too are saddened by this tragedy. I feel bad that people think a Muslim is capable of doing this."

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[poll id="449"]

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			<title>Anders Behring Breivik: From ordinary boy to mass murderer</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/216914/anders-behring-breivik-from-ordinary-boy-to-mass-murderer</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/216914/anders-behring-breivik-from-ordinary-boy-to-mass-murderer#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 25 Jul 11 07:05:42 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[afp]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=216914</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Despite looking like your average Norwegian, Breivik spent almost a third of his life working on an extremist plot.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Despite looking like your average Norwegian, Anders Behring Breivik spent almost a third of his life working on an extremist plot that looks set to make him one of the bloodiest murderers in history.

Tall, blond and with piercing blue eyes, the 32-year-old is suspected of being behind the carnage that left 93 people dead on Friday, charges police say he confessed to, calling the killings "cruel" but "necessary."

While his precise motives remain a mystery, there's no doubt about his determination.

On the day of the massacre, Behring Breivik published a 1,500-page tract on the Internet in which he lays out his Islamophobic and anti-Marxist ideology developed over the last nine years, and the moment in 2009 he decided to put words into action.

Presenting himself as a Crusader, he explains how he hid from his friends and family in order to prevent his plot being exposed. And his secret appears to have stayed just that.

"For me he just looked like your average guy. He could easily go unnoticed," said Emil Finneruo, a neighbour who said he went to school with the suspect.

"A well-kept Norwegian that no one would suspect," he told AFP.

Behring Breivik says himself that he had an unremarkable childhood, with a diplomat father and a nurse mother who divorced when he was just one year old.

"I have had a privileged upbringing with responsible and intelligent people around me," he wrote in his tract.

Raised by his mother in a middle class family, he said he never had financial problems and has only one gripe: "I had way too much freedom though if anything."

"When he was younger, he was an ordinary boy but not very communicative. He was not interested in politics at the time," his father Anders, with whom he lost contact aged 15, told Norwegian newspaper VG on Sunday.

In 1999 he joined the populist right-wing Progress Party and was active with the party's local youth branch.

He ended his membership in 2006, writing later on an Internet forum that he felt the party was too open to "multicultural demands" and "the suicidal ideas of humanism."

"Those who knew him when he was a member of the organisation say that he was a fairly shy boy who rarely took part in discussions," the Progress Party said on Saturday.

While his criticism of Islam, multiculturalism and Marxism are all over the Internet, where he was very active, Behring Breivik considered himself to be "a laid back type and quite tolerant on most issues."

"Due to the fact that I have been exposed to decades of multicultural indoctrination I feel a need to emphasise that I am not in fact a racist and never have been," he wrote.

"Being a skinhead was never an option for me. Their dress codes and taste of music was unappealing and I thought they were too extreme," he wrote, adding that he had "dozens of non-Norwegian friends during my younger years"

On his Facebook profile, Behring Breivik describes himself as "conservative," "Christian," and interested in hunting and video games like "World of Warcraft" and "Modern Warfare 2."

He had little or no income in 2009 and previous years according to his tax declaration, public information in Norway, and bought a small piece of agricultural land earlier this year.

That allowed him in May to buy, without raising suspicions, six tonnes of fertiliser and chemicals, which he apparently used to make the explosives used against government buildings on Friday, killing seven.

He also joined a shooting club, which enabled him to get the permit to buy firearms, including an assault rifle believed to have been used as he shot dead scores of young Labour Party members on the island of Utoeya, near Oslo.

(Read "Oslo attacker feared ‘Pakistanisation’ of Europe")]]>
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			<title>Oslo attacker feared ‘Pakistanisation’ of Europe</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/216830/oslo-attacker-feared-%e2%80%98pakistanisation%e2%80%99-of-europe</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/216830/oslo-attacker-feared-%e2%80%98pakistanisation%e2%80%99-of-europe#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 25 Jul 11 04:21:37 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Salman Siddiqui]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=216830</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Was mortally terrified of the idea of several ‘mini Pakistans’ appearing all over the map of Europe.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian terrorist who killed more than 90 people in two attacks in Oslo, was mortally terrified of the idea of several ‘mini Pakistans’ appearing all over the map of Europe.


In a 1,600-page manifesto titled ‘2083: A European Declaration of Independence’, Breivik laid out a stark picture of the future of Europe, citing poor human rights in Pakistan as the fate of the continent. Norwegian authorities confirmed on Sunday that the manifesto was written by Breivik.

In his doomsday scenario for Europe, Breivik predicts that several ‘mini-Pakistans’ would  be created all over Europe by 2083, one in each country due to ‘Lebanon-style’ conflicts. “It could be similar to the division of India after World War II, with the creation of one or several Islamic ‘Pakistan’ enclaves,” he says.

While Breivik’s rhetoric against Muslim immigration into Europe is not unusual, he cites many names that might be familiar to Pakistanis, including Allama Muhammad Iqbal and Maulana Abul Ala Maududi, as well as prominent human rights activist Hina Jilani and Dawn columnist Irfan Hussain.

He seems to believe that Iqbal, in particular, was sympathetic to communism and views multiculturalism as a Marxist concept. He quotes Iqbal as saying “Islam equals communism plus Allah.”

Breivik also claims that Pakistan is systematically annihilating all non-Muslim communities. He claimed that Hindu girls are being forced to convert to Islam in Sindh. In this context he even quotes Hina Jilani as saying: “Have you ever heard of an Indian Muslim girl being forced to embrace Hinduism? It’s Muslims winning by intimidation.”

He goes on to describe the situation for Christians in Pakistan as being no better, citing Father Emmanuel Asi of the Theological Institute for Laity in Lahore as saying in 2007 that Pakistani Christians are frequently denied equal rights.

Jamaat-e-Islami founder Abul Ala Maududi is also quoted in the manifesto, though in a manner that would imply that the stated objective of an Islamic state is to kill or subdue all non-Muslims around the world.

Breivik seems to be a fan of Daily Times columnist Razi Azmi, whom he calls “one of the more sensible columnists of Pakistan”. He mentions one of Azmi’s pieces where the columnist asks whether it was possible to imagine a Muslim converting to Christianity or Hinduism or Buddhism in a Muslim country, using it to support his view of Islam as an intolerant religion.

He also cites Dawn’s Irfan Hussain’s column criticising Hizb u-Tahrir’s vision of a caliphate.

His ire against Pakistanis and Muslims seems to have at least partial origin in personal experience. He speaks at length about his childhood best friend, a Pakistani Muslim immigrant to Norway who, despite having lived several years in Europe still appeared to resent Norway and Norwegian society. “Not because he was jealous… but because it represented the exact opposite of Islamic ways,” Breivik conjectures.

The inability of Muslim immigrants to assimilate into European society seems to bother him, which he blames on Muslim parents not allowing their children to adopt European ways. He also asks why Muslim girls are considered ‘off-limits’ to everyone, including Muslim boys, and why Muslim men view ethnic Norwegian women as ‘whores’.

He also seems to believe that the Muslims in Europe who collect government benefits view it as a form of jizya, a medieval Islamic tax charged on non-Muslim minorities.

He rails against multiculturalism, which he blames for making immigration too easy for Muslims in Europe. “When the veil of multiculturalism disappears, it will be Pakistanis who live in London, Turks who live in Berlin, Algerians who live in Paris and Moroccans who live in Amsterdam. And then the show begins,” he says.

That show, he says, is a dramatic demographic shift that he calls the ‘Pakistanisation of Europe’.

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

____________________________________________

[poll id="449"]]]>
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			<title>Norway police say killer behind 1,500 page anti-Islamic manifesto</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/216462/norway-police-say-killer-behind-1500-page-anti-islamic-manifesto</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/216462/norway-police-say-killer-behind-1500-page-anti-islamic-manifesto#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 24 Jul 11 11:23:30 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[reuters]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=216462</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Manifesto published by Anders Behring Breivik on Friday just hours before he killed at least 93 people.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Norwegian police on Sunday confirmed that a 1,500-page violent anti-Islamic manifesto was published by Anders Behring Breivik on Friday just hours before he killed at least 93 people.

The online book describes the planning, explosives making and violent philosophy that lead to the bombing in downtown Oslo and shootings at a Labour youth camp nearby.

"This manifesto was published on the day of the events," Oslo's acting police chief Sveinung Sponheim told a news conference. "We have confirmation of that."

The killings would draw attention to the manifesto, called "2083-A European Declaration of Independence", Breivik wrote.

"Once you decide to strike, it is better to kill too many than not enough, or you risk reducing the desired ideological impact of the strike," he wrote.

He also attacked "the Islamic colonisation and Islamisation of Western Europe" and "rise of cultural Marxism/multiculturalism".

"He wishes to change society," Breivik's lawyer Geir Lippestad told public broadcaster NRK.

The lawyer earlier said that his client "believed the actions were atrocious, but that in his head they were necessary."

The lawyer also said that his client wanted to explain himself in court on Monday.

Suspect's father in shock

The father of the young man suspected of single-handedly killing 93 people in Norway's worst post-war tragedy told the Verdens Gang newspaper he was in a state of shock.

"I was reading the news on the Internet and suddenly I saw his name and picture," Anders Behring Breivik's retired father told the Norwegian paper.

"I am in a state of shock, it's absolutely horrific to hear that," said Jens Breivik, who currently lives in France.

He said he knew nothing of his son's plans and explained he had not had contact with him since 1995.

"We never lived together but we had some contact during his childhood," he said. "When he was younger, he was an ordinary boy but not very communicative. He was not interested in politics at the time."

The 32-year-old was arrested following the twin attacks which left 93 people dead on Friday and sent shockwaves through the usually peaceful country.

The suspect confessed to perpetrating a car bomb against Oslo's government quarters and going on a shooting spree during a Labour Party summer camp on a nearby island.

Breivik, who described in a manifesto released on the Internet how he planned the attacks over years, told police he acted alone in what would be one of the worst acts of violence by a single man in recent memory.]]>
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			<title>Norway suspect deems killings atrocious but needed</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/216412/norway-suspect-deems-killings-atrocious-but-needed</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/216412/norway-suspect-deems-killings-atrocious-but-needed#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 24 Jul 11 05:23:38 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[reuters]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=216412</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Breivik expressed willingness to explain himself in court at a hearing.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[A suspected right-wing fanatic accused of killing at least 92 people deemed his acts "atrocious" yet "necessary" as Norway mourned victims of the nation's worst attacks since World War Two.

Police were hunting on Sunday to see if a possible second gunman took part in the shooting massacre and bomb attack on Friday that traumatised a normally peaceful Nordic country.

In his first comment via a lawyer since he was arrested, 32-year-old Norwegian Anders Behring Breivik expressed willingness to explain himself in court at a hearing likely to be held on Monday about extending protective custody.

"He has said that he believed the actions were atrocious, but that in his head they were necessary," lawyer Geir Lippestad told independent TV2 news.

Police said Breivik gave himself up after admitting to a massacre in which at least 85 people died, mostly young people attending a summer camp of the youth wing of Norway's ruling Labour Party on an idyllic island.

Breivik was also arrested for the bombing of Oslo's government district that killed seven people hours earlier. Norway's toughest sentence is 21 years in jail.

Survivors, relatives of those killed and supporters planned a procession to mourn the dead at Sundvollen on Sunday, near the island where the massacre took place.

Police said they were seeking several missing people and the toll could rise to 98, in the worst case.

Lippestad, speaking late on Saturday, did not give more details of possible motives by Breivik.

Breivik hated "cultural marxists", wanted a "crusade" against the spread of Islam and liked guns and weightlifting, web postings, acquaintances and officials said.

A video posted to the YouTube website showed several pictures of Breivik, including one of him in a Navy Seal type scuba diving outfit pointing an automatic weapon.

"Before we can start our crusade we must do our duty by decimating cultural marxism," said a caption under the video called "Knights Templar 2083" on the YouTube website, which took down the video on Saturday.

A Norwegian website provided a link to a 1,500 page electronic manifesto which says Breivik was the author. It was not possible to verify who posted the video or wrote the book.

"Once you decide to strike, it is better to kill too many than not enough, or you risk reducing the desired ideological impact of the strike," the book said.

Norway has traditionally been open to immigration, which has been criticised by the Progress Party, of which Breivik was for a short time a member. The Labour Party, whose youth camp Breivik attacked, has long been in favour of immigration.

About 100 people stood solemnly early on Sunday at a makeshift vigil near Oslo's main church, laying flowers and lighting candles. Soldiers with guns and wearing bullet-proof vests blocked streets leading to the government district.

"We are all in sorrow, everybody is scared," said Imran Shah, a Norwegian taxi driver of Pakistani heritage, as a light summer drizzle fell on unusually empty Oslo streets.

"At first, people thought Muslims were behind this," he said of some initial suspicions that the attacks might have been by Al Qaeda perhaps in protest at NATO-member Norway's role in Afghanistan or Iraq.

Some terrified survivors of the shooting rampage said bullets came from at least two sides.

"We are not at all certain" about whether he acted alone, police chief Sveinung Sponheim said. "That is one of the things that the investigation will concentrate on."

Police took almost 1.5 hours to stop the massacre, the worst by a single gunman in modern times. "The response time from when we got the message was quick. There were problems with transport out to the island," he said, defending the delay.

Witnesses said the gunman, wearing a police uniform, was able to shoot unchallenged for a prolonged period. He picked off his victims on Utoeya Island northwest of Oslo forcing youngsters to scatter in panic or to jump into the lake to swim for the mainland.

"I heard screams. I heard people begging for their lives and I heard shots. He just blew them away," Labour Party youth member Erik Kursetgjerde, 18, told Reuters.

"I was certain I was going to die," he said. "People ran everywhere. They panicked and climbed into trees. People got trampled."

The bloodbath was believed to be the deadliest attack by a lone gunman anywhere in modern times.

The suspect, tall and blond, owned an organic farming company called Breivik Geofarm, which a supply firm said he had used to buy fertiliser -- possibly to make the Oslo bomb.

Home-grown anti-government militants have struck elsewhere in the past, notably in the United States, where Timothy McVeigh killed 168 people with a truck bomb in Oklahoma City in 1995.

The district attacked is the heart of power in Norway. But security is not tight in a country unused to such violence and better known for awarding the Nobel Peace Prize and mediating in conflicts, including the Middle East and Sri Lanka.

&nbsp;]]>
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			<title>Terrorist attacks in Norway</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/215839/terrorist-attacks-in-norway</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/215839/terrorist-attacks-in-norway#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 23 Jul 11 16:32:21 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[editorial]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=215839</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Some western commentators felt that it could be the much feared ‘next attack’ on Europe.]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[One greatly sympathises with the peace-loving people of Norway for the tragedy that took place on July 22 — two almost simultaneous attacks on its capital Oslo and a nearby island. Almost unbelievably, one Norwegian rightwing fanatic has shot and killed at least 80 people during a youth rally of the ruling Labour Party, while another seven were killed by a car bomb near the office of the prime minister in Oslo. Having said that, one is a bit relieved that no Muslim was involved in them. We also hope that this gratitude is not expressed too soon.

TV commentators in the West had to stop speculating about yet another adventure by al Qaeda because of the quick declaration by the Norwegian police that the man killing the youths on the island had been arrested, that he was a native Norwegian and that he had possible links with the righting extremists in the country. Norway has a very negligible element left over from the neo-Nazi group that showed muscle in the country some years ago. One cause for concern is that if the act of terrorism was the work of a deranged individual, similar to ultra-right American Timothy McVeigh, then who was behind the car bomb attack that has wrecked a whole sector of the capital city?

We hope that in the coming days, new facts are not revealed about possible connections to al Qaeda, which would mean increased focus on Pakistan. Norway has a Muslim community with a strong contribution from Pakistan, mainly from Gujrat, which the Norwegian ambassador in Pakistan has often praised as a most useful contributor to the richness of Norwegian culture.

Before the Norwegian police came out with facts, some western commentators felt that it could be the much feared ‘next attack’ on Europe, a continent that has been spared al Qaeda’s wrath now for some time. The reasons given were many: That Norway was a Nato member with troops stationed in Afghanistan and some involvement in the siege imposed on Libya; that some of the blasphemous Danish cartoons may have been reprinted in Norwegian newspapers as a part of the ‘freedom of speech’ debate; and that Norway should be made to get out of Afghanistan just as Spain was made to get out of Iraq after a bombing of trains in Madrid. Attempts by the media to link the killings to the country’s substantial Pakistani presence were proven wrong and underline the dangers of racial/ethnic profiling when dealing with cases of terror.

The car bomb did look suspiciously like an al Qaeda attack but it is more likely that the killer followed in the footsteps of McVeigh and placed the explosives-laden car in the city square before going to the youth rally with his arsenal of guns. The ‘lone wolf’ theory is more tenable because Scandinavia has been more or less free of terrorist attention, apart from Denmark, which was unsuccessfully targeted by al Qaeda from Pakistan and for which Pakistani American David Headley is under trial in the US after having made some confessions extremely embarrassing to the government in Islamabad.

Norway could very well call the attack its 9/11 because the last time it witnessed carnage of such a scale was during the Second World War. It has been more peaceful than Sweden, where a Turk tried unsuccesfully to explode a bomb in Stockholm in December 2010. In the scale of loss of life, Oslo has suffered less than Madrid (191 killed) did in 2004, but more than London (52 killed) did in 2005.

It has been only three months since Osama bin Laden’s death in Abbottabad and everyone in the world is looking to Pakistan to tackle the contagion of terrorism spreading to the rest of the world. With more than 35,000 lost to al Qaeda and its local affiliates, Pakistan deserves sympathy and help for which it must prove itself worthy by fighting its own war against terrorism.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 24th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Bloodbath: Norway mourns 98 victims after ‘hell on paradise island’</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/215771/at-least-91-dead-in-norway-shooting-bomb-attack-2</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/215771/at-least-91-dead-in-norway-shooting-bomb-attack-2#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 23 Jul 11 08:01:29 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[afp]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=215771</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Suspect named by the Norwegian media as Anders Behring Breivik, a 32-year-old Norwegian.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The Norwegian police said they were questioning a right-wing Christian on Saturday over the twin attacks on a youth camp and the government headquarters that killed 98 people in Norway’s deadliest post-war tragedy.


As harrowing testimonies emerged from the holiday island where scores of youngsters were mown down by a gunman posing as a policeman, Norway’s premier said the country would emerge stronger from the “cruel act of violence”.

“Never since the Second World War has our country been hit by a crime of this scale,” Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg told journalists as police searched for more bodies on the idyllic Utoeya Island.

Their latest death toll from the island massacre stood at 91 while seven people died in the Oslo bombing.

While there was no official confirmation of the suspect’s identity, he was widely named by the Norwegian media as Anders Behring Breivik.

According to information, the suspect posted online, he is an “ethnic” Norwegian and a “Christian fundamentalist”, police spokesman Roger Andersen said, adding his political opinions leaned “to the right”.

Police commissioner Sveinung Sponheim confirmed that the suspect was a 32-year-old Norwegian who had posted anti-Muslim rhetoric online.

The attacks on Friday afternoon were Western Europe’s deadliest since the 2004 Madrid bombings.

While there had been initial fears they might have been an act of revenge over Norway’s participation in the campaigns in Afghanistan and Libya, the focus shifted when it emerged the suspect was a native Norwegian. Police lifted an advisory telling residents to stay home.

But in a sign of the population’s nervousness, police arrested one young man armed with a knife at a hotel outside Oslo where some of the survivors had gathered and Stoltenberg had just arrived for a visit.

According to the NRK broadcaster, the suspect claimed he was carrying the weapon “because he did not feel safe”.

Seven of the victims were killed in a massive explosion which ripped through government buildings, including Stoltenberg’s office and the finance ministry, in downtown Oslo.

It is thought that the bomber then caught a ferry to nearby Utoeya wearing a police sweater.

On arrival, he claimed to be investigating the bomb attack and began opening fire with an automatic weapon after beckoning youngsters towards him.

Witnesses described scenes of panic and horror among the 560 people attending the youth camp. Some who tried to swim to safety were even shot in the water. Among the wounded was Adrian Pracon, who was shot in the left shoulder.

Speaking to Australia’s ABC network from the hospital, he said the scene on the island was like a “Nazi movie”.

“He was shooting people at close range. He stood 10 metres from me and began shooting at people in the water,” he said.

“When I saw him from the side yelling that he was about to kill us, he looked like he had walked right out of a Nazi movie or something.”

“He would either kick people to see if they were alive, or he just shot at them.”

Norwegian police said they feared there could also be explosives on the island. According to a spokeswoman for a farm inputs cooperative, the suspect bought six tonnes of fertiliser, which can be used to make bombs, in May.

“We sold him six tonnes of fertiliser which is a relatively standard order,” Oddny Estenstad told AFP. Stoltenberg had been due to give a speech on Saturday to the 560 people attending the youth camp on the island, organised by the ruling Labour party.

As he visited some of the survivors, the prime minister spoke of his own anguish at the massacre on an island to which he was a frequent visitor.

“Many of those who have died were friends. I know their parents and it happened at a place where I spent a long time as a young person ... It was a paradise of my youth that has now been turned into hell,” he said.

He said Norway must ensure that the attacks do not undermine the fundamental values of its society.

“We are an open society, a democratic society…we are a society where we have a very close relationship between politicians and the people.”

There was widespread international condemnation with US President Barack Obama saying the attacks were “a reminder that the entire international community has a stake in preventing this kind of terror from occurring”.

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II also wrote to King Herald V of Norway to offer sympathy over “the dreadful atrocity”.

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, on behalf of the government and people of Pakistan, condemned the horrific terrorist attacks in Norway.

In separate messages to the Norwegian leadership, the king and the prime minister of Norway, President Zardari and the Prime Minister Gilani expressed solidarity with the Norwegians and offered condolences to the families and friends of those who lost their lives in the tragic incidents. (WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM APP)

 

 

 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 24th, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Oslo assault: Twin attacks leave 11 dead in Norway</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/215264/bomb-kills-7-in-oslo-several-killed-in-shooting</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/215264/bomb-kills-7-in-oslo-several-killed-in-shooting#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 23 Jul 11 04:00:25 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[agencies]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=215264</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[The prime minister’s office and other buildings in Oslo heavily damaged.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Militants staged twin bomb and shooting attacks in the Norwegian capital on Friday, leaving at least 11 dead as a blast tore through government buildings and a gunman opened fire at a youth meeting of the ruling party.


Many were also reported wounded from the bomb blast in central Oslo and the shooting at a summer school meeting of Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg’s ruling Labour Party outside the capital.

Authorities were reeling, with police saying they had no clue who or what was behind the attack, but media reported that the gunman behind the shooting had been arrested.

The United States and Europe immediately denounced the attacks and vowed solidarity with Nato member Norway.

Police said a “bomb” was behind a “powerful explosion” that tore through the government quarter in central Oslo, home to the prime minister’s office, the finance ministry and some of the country’s leading media.

Stoltenberg was safe and there were no reports of other senior government officials being killed or wounded. The government was to hold a crisis meeting later on Friday.

“We can confirm that we have seven dead and two have been seriously injured” in the bomb attack, a police spokesman told reporters at a briefing in Oslo. Several dozen were also wounded, police said.

“We have no main theory, we don’t even have a working theory,” a police official said separately. “We already have enough to do to get an understanding of the situation.”

Images on Norwegian television showed the prime minister’s office and other buildings heavily damaged, sidewalks covered in broken glass and smoke rising from the area.

US President Barack Obama called the attacks “a reminder that the entire international community has a stake in preventing this kind of terror from occurring.”

Published in The Express Tribune, July 23rd, 2011.]]>
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			<title>Blast rocks central Oslo, Norway PM's office</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/215083/blast-rocks-central-oslo-norway-pms-office</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/215083/blast-rocks-central-oslo-norway-pms-office#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 22 Jul 11 15:10:30 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[reuters]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=215083</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Heavy debris littered the streets and a tall plume of brown smoke over the city centre.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[A huge explosion wrecked government buildings in central Oslo on Friday including Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg's office, injuring several people, a Reuters journalist said from the scene.

The cause of the blast was unknown but the tangled wreckage of a car was outside one building and the damage appeared consistent to witnesses with that from car bombs. Police and fire officials declined comment on the cause.

The blast blew out most windows on the 17-storey building housing Stoltenberg's office, as well as nearby ministries including the oil ministry, which was on fire.

Heavy debris littered the streets and a tall plume of brown smoke over the city centre.

A Reuters correspondent counted at least eight injured people. Norwegian news agency NTB said that Stoltenberg was safe in the blast, which happened around 3:30 p.m. (1330 GMT).

"It exploded, it must have been a bomb. People ran in panic. I counted at least 10 injured people," said Kjersti Vedun, who was leaving the area.

NATO member Norway has sometimes in the past been threatened by leaders of al Qaeda for its involvement in Afghanistan. It has also taken part the NATO bombing of Libya, where Muammar Qaddafi has threatened to strike back in Europe.

However, political violence is virtually unknown in the country.

David Lea, Western Europe analyst, at Control Risks said: "It's very difficult to tell what has happened.  There certainly aren't any domestic Norwegian terrorist groups although there have been some al Qaeda-linked arrests from time to time.

"They are in Afghanistan and were involved in Libya, but it's far too soon to draw any conclusions."]]>
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			<title>Govt to undo Hyderabad district’s division</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/11990/govt-to-undo-hyderabad-district%e2%80%99s-division</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/11990/govt-to-undo-hyderabad-district%e2%80%99s-division#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 10 May 10 06:55:42 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[aijaz.shaikh]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Sindh]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=11990</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[]]>
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				<![CDATA[Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani has said that division of Hyderabad district will be restored to its original form. 

This suggestion has been received with suspicion by coalition partner, the MQM, which says that it is being treated as a political opponent and not an ally.

Chairing the second convention of PPP workers from Hyderabad division on Saturday, the prime minister made it clear that the PPP would take all coalition partners into confidence on the matter.

Terming the decision to bifurcate the division wrong, the prime minister said that the government would protect people’s rights. “Hyderabad will once again be made into one district. We are also one of the stakeholders. We cannot antagonise our own party workers. We will not allow any damage to the party. All such decisions will be taken in consultation with our coalition partners,” Gilani said.

The district was bifurcated during the reign of Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, a controversial Sindh CM.

Gilani dispelled the impression that Sindh had been deprived of 300 megawatts of electricity and said it was part of a disinformation campaign.

 MQM Reaction 

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement has reacted strongly to the prime minister’s statement, with the party’s chief Altaf Hussain saying that some leaders and ministers of the PPP wanted to damage harmonious relations between the PPP and the MQM through their provocative statements.

In a statement issued from the MQM International Secretariat in London, Hussain said that the prime minister’s statement about Hyderabad had disheartened hundreds of citizens but they should not feel desserted. Hussain said the prime minister should avoid making any decision about Sindh without taking his coalition party into confidence.

He appealed to President Asif Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani to take immediate notice of confrontational statements by some leaders and ministers and to avert a conspiracy to end unity among the two parties.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Gilani chaired another highlevel meeting which discussed ways and means to increase harmony between coalition partners. The security situation in Sindh and local government elections were also discussed.

Balochistan Leaders

In a major development in connection with dissidents in Balochistan, Prime Minister Gilani on Saturday ordered the authorities to exclude names of all Baloch leaders from the Exit Control List (ECL).

He also urged Baloch leaders to end their exile and return to the country.

Speaking to the media after meeting influential Baloch nationalist leader Sardar Attaullah Mengal at his residence in Karachi, he said the government was willing to take practical steps to remove grievances of people of the province.

The prime minister was accompanied by Chief Minister of Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah and speaker of the Sindh Assembly, Nisar Ahmed Khuhro.

The move, political analysts said, might pave the way for the return of prominent Baloch dissident leaders, including Nawabzada Brahamdagh Bugti and Nawabzada Ghazan Marri, who are leading armed resistance from abroad.

Prime Minister Gilani said Sardar Mengal “is right in calling for practical steps to be taken by the federal government about missing persons and for addressing the deprivation of the Baloch people.”

Gilani said he has instructed the commission set up for the implementation of constitutional reforms to meet Sardar Mengal.

Dialogue Stressed 

Reiterating the government’s commitment to rectify past mistakes, he said the government did not believe in victimising anyone and urged all Baloch leaders to return to Pakistan so that issues related to the province could be addressed through talks.

During the hour-long meeting, the prime minister requested Mengal to help the government in its efforts to “bring angry Baloch leaders back” to the negotiating table. According to Online news agency, Sardar Mengal said that the removal of names of Baloch dissident leaders from the ECL was essential for creating an environment conducive for talks. (ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM AGENCIES)]]>
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