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TEXT:TRANSLATOR NOTE (TN): VERBATIM TRANSLATION BEGINS HERE:PAGE 1 OF 3  IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, MOST MERCIFUL, MOST GRACIOUS-TO MY BELOVED BROTHER MUKHTAR -MAY ALLAH PRESERVE HIM.IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, MOST MERCIFUL, MOST GRACIOUS. MAY ALLAH I SPEACE AND MERCY BE UPON YOU.   I ASK ALLAH THAT YOU AND ALL THE BRETHREN BE IN THE BEST OFCONDITIONS, WITH PEACE OF MIND AND IN A STATE OF GRACE, AND I ASKALLAH TO PROTECT YOU FROM EVIL.   FOR A START, I LOVE YOU IN GOD, AND ALLAH KNOWS THAT I CARE FOR YOU.I AM ALSO VERY HAPPY WITH OUR...

One of the two men arrested for illegally buying mobile phone cards used by gunmen in the Mumbai attacks is a counter-insurgency police officer who may have been on an undercover mission, security officials said Saturday. The officials in Indian Kashmir demanded that police in Calcutta, where the suspect is being held, arrange for his quick release.

KARACHI: Defense Minister, Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar has said that holding talks with Taliban was in the interest of the country; talks with the Taliban leaders were held earlier and were being held now also. Talking to newsmen at the PIA head office here, Defense Minister, Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar, who is PIA chairman also, said that if an agreement with Taliban gets materialized, then it would benefit the whole world and across the border actions could be controlled. As regards missile attack on Bajaur, defense minister said that the government was collecting facts and added that such attacks within Pakistan...

The Hooded Man from Abu Ghraib: The Rest of the Story by Laura Mansfield Do you remember this image? (See attached PDF file for image) The hooded man is Haj Ali al Qaisi. Haj Ali is known throughout the world because of this photograph showing him with a black hood over his head, standing on a box, with electric cords on his hands. The photo came to represent torture in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq at the hands of the American military. Haj Ali, who now lives in Jordan and heads a group called the "Organization of Victims of US...

Last week, Pakistan's Federal Shariat Court—the nation's highest Islamic court—vacated an appeals court decision that had outraged the world. In essence, the appeals court had acquitted five of the six men convicted in the 2002 "honor rape" of Mukhtar Mai. Her ongoing story may well foreshadow the future of Muslim women who suffer under tribal law and other oppressive traditions. Hers is a savage tale of brutalization and courage, with confusing twists and a resolution that is uncertain. But it is a story of hope, which provides reason for optimism. In it, the West provides an invaluable voice of conscience...

Police in Thailand believe a relative of Bali bombing mastermind Hambali was among the thieves who stole a large quantity of a bomb-making ingredient this week. Authorities say Islamic separatists stole a batch of ammonium nitrate, a fertiliser and bomb-making ingredient, in an armed raid on a quarry in the country's south. The 10 thieves escaped with more than 1,300 kilograms of ammonium nitrate, 58 sticks of dynamite and 170 blasting caps. Ammonium nitrate was the main explosive used in the Bali bombings. Security forces in southern Thailand are on high alert. They fear a major bomb attack is being...