Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr- Reasons Behind His Execution

http://www.newsbharati.com/ Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr- Reasons Behind His Execution.

Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr: Saudi Arabia executes top Shia cleric

Saudi Arabia has executed the prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, the interior ministry said.

He was among 47 people put to death after being convicted of terrorism offences, it said in a statement.

Sheikh Nimr was a vocal supporter of the mass anti-government protests that erupted in Eastern Province in 2011, where a Shia majority have long complained of marginalisation.

Shia-led Iran said Saudi Arabia would pay a "high price" for the execution.

A foreign ministry spokesman said Riyadh "supports terrorists... while executing and suppressing critics inside the country".

Iranian state TV reported that the Saudi charge d'affaires in Iran had been summoned to the foreign ministry.

Iran is the main regional rival of Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia.

At least one protest march was held in Qatif, in Eastern Province, where security has been raised.

Protesters shouted the slogans "The people want the fall of the regime", and "Down with the al-Saud family", reminiscent of the 2011 protests.

The BBC understands that among those executed was a man convicted of shooting dead a freelance cameraman on an assignment for the BBC, Simon Cumbers, in 2004.

Adel al-Dubayti was sentenced in November 2014 for his role in multiple al-Qaeda attacks including the one in the capital Riyadh in which Cumbers was killed and which also left reporter Frank Gardner critically injured.

Adel Saad Al-DubaityImage copyrightAl Arabiya

Image caption

Adel Al-Dubayti, who was convicted over the death of a BBC cameraman, was among those put to death

The executions were carried out simultaneously in 12 locations across Saudi Arabia.

Those also put to death include Sunnis convicted of involvement in al-Qaeda-linked terror attacks in 2003. Of the 47 executed, one was a Chadian national while another was Egyptian. The rest are Saudis.

Saudi Arabia's top cleric, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al al-Sheikh, defended the executions, calling them a "mercy to the prisoners" as it would prevent them committing more crimes, Associated Press reported.

Analysis: BBC World Service Middle East regional editor Alan Johnston

As they moved in to arrest Sheikh Nimr, the Saudis were well aware that this was a case that would cause ructions.

Here was a prominent, outspoken cleric who articulated the feelings of those in the country's Shia minority who feel marginalised and discriminated against. This was a figure active on the sensitive Sunni-Shia sectarian fault line that creates tension in the Kingdom and far beyond.

As the Shia power in the region, Iran takes huge interest in the affairs of Shia minorities in the Middle East. And it was inevitable that Tehran and Riyadh would clash over the treatment of Sheikh Nimr.

The Iranians had warned that the death sentence handed to him should not be carried out. But one of the principal concerns of the Saudis is what they see as the growing influence of Iran in places like Syria, Iraq and elsewhere. So perhaps it is not so surprising that they were not going to be swayed by Iranian pressure in this most sensitive case in their own backyard.

The international rights group Reprieve called the executions "appalling", saying at least four of those killed, including Sheikh Nimr, were put to death for offences related to political protest.

Protests broke out in early 2011 in the oil-rich Eastern Province in the wake of the Arab Spring.

Sheikh Nimr's arrest in the following year, during which he was shot, triggered days of protests in which three people were killed.

Who was Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr?

A Yemeni protester holds a picture of Sheikh Nimr in 2014Image copyrightAFP

Image caption

News of Sheikh Nimr's execution prompted an angry response from Shia authorities

In his 50s when he was executed, he has been a persistent critic of Saudi Arabia's Sunni royal family

Arrested several times over the past decade, alleging he was beaten by Saudi secret police during one detention

Met US officials in 2008, Wikileaks revealed, seeking to distance himself from anti-American and pro-Iranian statements

Emerged as a figurehead in the protests that began in 2011 inspired by the Arab Spring

Said to have a particularly strong following among Saudi Shia youth

Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr: Figurehead Shia cleric

His death sentence was confirmed in October 2014, with his family saying he had been found guilty among other charges of seeking "foreign meddling" in the kingdom.

Sheikh Nimr's supporters say he advocated only peaceful demonstrations and eschewed all violent opposition to the government.

The cleric's nephew, Ali al-Nimr, who was 17 when he was arrested following the demonstrations and also faces execution, was not listed as one of those killed.

His brother, Mohammed al-Nimr, said he hoped any reaction to the execution would be peaceful.

Pathankot Attack Planned by Pakistani Army Headquarters?

http://www.newsbharati.com/ Pathankot Attack Planned by Pakistani Army Headquarters?

Pathankot operation was planned by Pakistan army headquarters?

he Pathankot attack may have been masterminded by the Pakistan Army's General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi, as per an assessment by a section of the top Indian security establishment.

According to a senior intelligence official, the Pak GHQ is reportedly peeved at the positive reaction of the international community and media to PM Narendra Modi's Lahore diplomacy and Nawaz Sharif's hospitality and feels bypassed after the "fait accompli".

Though there were suggestions that the Pakistan army had backed the recent peace outreach, this narrative disagrees and feels ISI too is of the view that Modi's surprise visit to Lahore created a favourable civil society sentiment in Pakistan towards the civilian 'pro-peace' regime.

The Pakistan Army and ISI, this time around, kept aside their preferred agent Lashkar-e-Taiba, responsible for the 2008 26/11 strikes on Mumbai, and chose Jaish-e-Mohammed, an ISI asset less in the news, to hit Pathankot. This, they felt, would ensure more deniability. Headed by Maulana Masood Azhar, one of three terrorists swapped to end the IC-814 hostage crisis of 1999, Jaish is being resurrected over the past few years.

The Pathankot attackers were part of the Bahawalpur group of Jaish and spoke in Multani dialect, common to south Punjab, during phone calls with their Pakistan-based masterminds. Four calls were made in the intervening night of Friday and Saturday, three to terrorists' Pakistan-based Jaish handlers and one to a family member of a fidayeen. The calls were intercepted by the agencies.

While one of the fidayeen has been identified as Nasir, the two handlers who were heard instructing the attackers to blow up aircraft at Pathankot airbase were called Maulana Ashfaq and Haji Abdul Shaqur. In 2008, the 10-member LeT attack module, including Kasab, was instructed in a similar way by their handlers from a control room in Karachi.

Sources said the objective of the Pathankot attack was to cause damage to air force base assets and technical assets and kill as many personnel as possible. This, some senior officers of the intelligence establishment feel, was meant to provoke the Indian defence establishment and political opposition to retaliate -- undo India-Pakistan peace dialogue and so scuttle the foreign secretary-level talks less than a fortnight away. This would also help bring back focus on Pakistan military propaganda painting their country a victim of terrorism, facing an aggressive eastern (India) neighbour and an India-influenced Afghanistan.

Indian intelligence agencies managed to get advance information, enabling security forces to coordinate a night-long, timely operation on the ground. The multi-agency operation was coordinated and supervised, with NSA overseeing it through the night. The Jaish terrorists were repulsed and neutralized with no damage to any airforce base assets & minimal casualties.

The thwarted attack will serve as a snub to the Pakistani side, besides exposing to the world what India is up against, in form of the "deep state within the Pakistan state", said a senior intelligence functionary.

No rogue strike, all hands point to Pakistani military he full extent of terrorist operations in Pathankot and the likelihood of Delhi facing a similar threat is leading to mounting suspicion that the suspected Jaish-e-Mohammed strikes could not have been executed without Pakistan's armyintelligence complex being in the loop. The multiple terror groups that work out of Pakistan has made it difficult even for the proverbial "deep state" to keep a tab on all, but India operations remain under the close control and scrutiny of the ISI and the general headquarters. There is the possibility of hold outs and elements in the military who may not be as much "on board" the peace process as the army brass was said to be after the recent meeting between PMs Narendra Modi and Nawaz Sharif in Lahore. Given the infamous mendaciousness of the Pakistan military, suspected to have harboured Osama Bin Laden — the truth about the attack on Pathankot may never be revealed. Evidence that will come to light in coming days could trace the plot with greater certainty but the possibil ity of rogue elements carrying out the jihadi strikes seems to be shrinking as the number of the terror squad rises and it becomes apparent that this was not a small autonomous group. While the Pakistan army could have ostensibly been in the loop over the peace initiative, a belief system that sees India as the enemy in political and religious terms is hard to jettison. At best, there can be a tactical decision to allow the civilian government more leeway at a particular point in