For those having trouble keeping track of who the bad guys are. Here's a fool proof formula -- which side is Obama on?

Syrian child tied up in chains and forced to watch the murder of her parents by US sponsored rebels

According to Syrian Truth’s Facebook page, the above photo is of a toddler living in the Deir ez-Zor Governate in eastern Syria, bordering Iraq. She was tied up by members of the U.S.-supported “Free Syrian Army” — which is dominated by foreign, Sunni jihadis — and made to watch as her mother and father were killed for being Shia. Here is how the Obama administration is using your tax dollars — mockingly in the name of “freedom.” (thanks to Raymond Ibrahim hat tip Jane)

But but but the majority of Muslims oppose Islamic terror. Well, that's what they tell us, anyway. This reminds me of a protest organized by a moderate Muslim group against the Christmas balls bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, outside a Detroit court during his arraignment. The protest outside the jihadi's arraignment of Muslims protesting Islamic terror -- "Not in the name of Islam" -- drew 12  people. This despite major publicity and media attention and pretrial publicity. The Muslim population of the Detroit area is about 400,000 (some estimate about 3% of Detroit’s metro population is Muslim).

12 people. And the Muslim organizer received death threats for "speaking out against other Muslims."

It mirrors a similar rally I attended back in May 2005: Free Muslims Against Terror. Nobody went to that one either (maybe 25 -- mostly non-Muslims).

Canada: Progressive Muslims group rallies against jihad terrorism, draws 24 people

Jihadwatch

One of the cornerstones of the argument over the last few days for keeping me out of the U.K. is the false claim that I "demonize all Muslims" in my critique of jihad and Islamic supremacism. In reality, I point out that Islamic supremacists claim to represent the authentic interpretation of the Qur'an and Islam, that they make recruits among peaceful Muslims with this claim, that most reputedly "moderate" organizations in the U.S. are tied to the Muslim Brotherhood (as has been abundantly established by the Justice Department), and that genuinely peaceful and non-supremacist Muslims have not effectively countered the Islamic supremacist appeal among Muslims.

All these facts are established anew by the tiny turnout at the small number of Muslim anti-terror demonstrations that have taken place. Several years ago a group called the Free Muslims Coalition held what it called a "Free Muslims March Against Terror," intending to "send a message to the terrorists and extremists that their days are numbered ... and to send a message to the people of the Middle East, the Muslim world and all people who seek freedom, democracy and peaceful coexistence that we support them." In the run-up to the event it got enthusiastic national and international publicity, but it ended up drawing about twenty-five people. And that is about as many as this demo in Toronto drew. Now the group appears to be defunct; its website hasn't been updated since December 2011.

"Progressive Muslims group launched in Toronto to reclaim ‘hijacked’ faith," by Wendy Gillis for the Toronto Star, June 17 (thanks to Rick):

Tahir Gora shouts into a microphone, cuing a response from the sparse group of supporters gathered with him at the steps of Queen’s Park.

“Terrorism,” he yells.

“Unacceptable!” they reply.

Their voices carry across the grassy Legislature grounds that are, with the exception of a few bike cops and pedestrians, deserted. A stack of unused signs, their slogans reading “Hate is not my religion” and “Love it or leave my Canada,” lean up against a nearby pole.

Mighty but small, it was not quite the turnout the newly formed Progressive Muslims Institute Canada had in mind for their first rally, held last week. As one of the organizers mused with a chuckle, there were more white faces than brown in the crowd of roughly two dozen.

But when the goal is as big as reclaiming a faith many Muslims feel has been hijacked by terrorism, you’ve got to start somewhere.

“We thought, enough is enough,” said Gora, the institute’s director and a Pakistani writer and social activist.

The quick succession of Islam-linked terrorism — the Boston Marathon bombing, the alleged plot to derail a Toronto-bound train, the killing of a British soldier in London, among others — was the final push for Gora and a handful of other activists to officially band together, Gora said. Part of umbrella think tank Canadian Thinkers’ Forum, the institute is the latest Canadian Muslim group promoting progressive ideas, including gender equality, separation of church and state, and condemnation of terrorism.

But while many Muslims have long been denouncing the actions of fundamental Islamist extremists, there remains a reticence among some to speak out.

“It’s 25 years that I’ve been in Canada, but I haven’t seen the Muslim community come out to protest,” said rally attendee Rasheed Nadeem. “There are progressive people, but they are silent. They do talk, but in their dining rooms.”

Fear plays a role, said Arshad Mahmood, honorary director of the new progressive Muslims group — “fear of being an outcast, fear of social boycott, fear of being trashed by certain extremist priests,” he said.

Saadia Ali Bokhari is a well known activist in the GTA Muslim community, and has spoken out on controversial issues including supporting the ban of face coverings in Canadian citizenship ceremonies. Because of her activism, she says she has been the recipient of hate and threats.

Last month, she participated in a downtown rally protesting the suspected vote-rigging in Pakistan’s recent election. After a photo of her at the rally was posted online, Bokhari began receiving harassing and threatening messages. She said her brother and sister in Pakistan were also contacted by people saying Bokhari needed to stop speaking out.

Bokhari believes some people are offended by the idea of a vocal, confident woman. “This is what they are doing to discourage me,” Bokhari said.

Mahmood, a Mississauga mortgage broker who moved to Canada from Pakistan in 1999, says another factor keeping Canadian Muslims from demonstrating is the false sense of security that Islamic extremism won’t affect Canada.

“That is a mentality that develops with some people to stay in a comfort zone — as long as it doesn’t happen on my street, I’m comfortable,” he said. At the rally he apologized for falling victim to this thinking, saying: “I am sorry that I didn’t stand up when my religion was being hijacked.”

For some Muslims, terrorism is so foreign to their idea of the Muslim faith that it seems odd to have to decry it, says Max Khan, an Oakville town councillor active in the Muslim community, because “we don’t identify ourselves as being a terrorist group.”

But he believes that community leaders and imams still have a responsibility to condemn terrorism.

“I do hold people who sit on the sidelines accountable,” Khan said.

There is frustration, however, that Muslim statements decrying violent extremism are falling on deaf ears. Dr. Aliya Khan is a member of an interfaith group in Peel and has been working to spread the message that Islam is peaceful. She says many imams are regularly denouncing terrorism, but the media aren’t covering their statements.

This is an oft-repeated claim, but it is absolute rubbish. The media is avid to find moderates, and routinely runs glowing puff pieces about reputed moderates, including some who turn out to be anything but. That's how Anwar al-Awlaki ended up getting praised in the New York Times, which hailed al-Awlaki on October 19, 2001 as one of "a new generation of Muslim leader capable of merging East and West."

In December, for instance, several international imams in Toronto for a large conference spoke out against extremist violence and “there wasn’t a peep from the media,” Khan said.

“The imams are feeling very frustrated, and they say ‘we’ve condemned this a billion times, we don’t know what to do,’” she said....

Act against it. Teach against it. Condemnations are not enough.

Fresh on the heels of Obama's declaration of submission to the Taliban, the devout Muslim group slaughtered 10 tourists (inclduing one American). They took the money and passports from the tourists and then gunned them down, said the official.

The Obama Administration announced that it will meet with the Taliban in Doha for “peace talks" while the Taliban continued to orchestrate insider attacks, killing our soldiers. They continued to poison girls’ schools across Afghanistan, kidnap Red Cross workers, enforce the most brutal and extreme ideology on the face of the earth (the Sharia), and call for the defeat of American and coalition forces.

These jihadists behead Afghan children, slaughter Afghans who dare to attend a party where dancing takes place, and mean to run Mullah Omar for President, despite the fact that there is still a $10-million-dollar reward on his head. Omar sheltered Osama bin Laden prior to the 9/11 attacks; he had a hand in the 9/11 attacks; and he has directed the Taliban’s ongoing war against U.S.-led NATO forces. On what basis could a peace conference move forward? It is, in fact, a surrender.

The Taliban surprised and angered the US and Afghanistan with a poster proclaiming its new office in Doha was for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, rather than a political office for peace talks.

But the ceremonial opening of the office in Doha by the Taliban, was to have announced “the political office of the Taliban in Doha,” as had been agreed – or so the U.S. and Afghanistan had understood. Instead, it featured a large poster reading “the opening of the political office of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in Doha.”(source: Jihadwatch)

The name on the poster is what the Taliban called Afghanistan during the era it was in control, between 1996 and 2001, and was popularly understood by al Qaeda and other Islamic terrorists to have been the nascent rebirth of the Global Califate.

"American among 10 foreign tourists shot dead in Pakistan" Fox News, July 24, 2013 (thanks to Ken)

At least a dozen Islamic militants wearing police uniforms shot to death overnight a Pakistani and 10 foreign tourists, including an American, who were visiting one of the world's highest mountains in a remote area of northern Pakistan that has been largely peaceful, officials said Sunday.

The shooting was one of the worst attacks on foreigners in Pakistan in recent years and is likely to damage the country's already struggling tourism industry. Pakistan's mountainous north — considered until now relatively safe — is one of the main attractions in a country beset with insurgency and other political instability.

The local branch of the Taliban took responsibility for the killings, saying it was to avenge the death of a leader killed in a recent U.S. drone strike.

The 10 foreigners who were killed included two Chinese, one Chinese-American and one Nepalese, said Attaur Rehman, home secretary in the Gilgit-Baltistan area where the attack took place. The other six have not been identified. One Pakistani was also killed, Rehman said.

Matt Boland, the acting spokesman at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, confirmed that a U.S. citizen was among the dead, but could not say whether it was a dual Chinese national.

"The U.S. Embassy Islamabad expresses its deepest condolences to the family and friends of the U.S. citizen and the other innocent tourists who were killed in the Northern Areas of Pakistan," Boland said in a statement sent to reporters.

Pakistan's interior minister, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, said earlier that nine foreigners and one Pakistani were killed. He said the dead included five Ukrainians, three Chinese and one Russian. One Chinese tourist was wounded in the attack and was rescued, said Khan.

It's unclear what caused the discrepancy between the two accounts.

The attack took place at the base camp of Nanga Parbat, the ninth highest mountain in the world at 8,126 meters (26,660 feet). Nanga Parbat is notoriously difficult to climb and is known as the "killer mountain" because of numerous mountaineering deaths in the past. It's unclear if the tourists were planning to climb the mountain or were just visiting the base camp, which is located in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan.

The gunmen were wearing uniforms used by the Gilgit Scouts, a paramilitary police force that patrols the area, said the interior minister. The attackers abducted two local guides to find their way to the remote base camp. One of the guides was killed in the shooting, and the other has been detained and is being questioned, said Khan.

"The purpose of this attack was to give a message to the world that Pakistan is unsafe for travel," said the interior minister in a speech in the National Assembly, which passed a resolution condemning the incident. "The government will take all measures to ensure the safety of foreign tourists."

Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan claimed responsibility for the attack, saying their Jundul Hafsa group carried out the shooting as retaliation for the death of the Taliban's deputy leader, Waliur Rehman, in a U.S. drone attack on May 29.

"By killing foreigners, we wanted to give a message to the world to play their role in bringing an end to the drone attacks," Ahsan told The Associated Press by telephone from an undisclosed location.

At least a dozen gunmen were involved in the attack, local police officer Jahangir Khan said.

The attackers beat up the Pakistanis who were accompanying the tourists, took their money and tied them up, said a senior local government official. They checked the identities of the Pakistanis and shot to death one of them, possibly because he was a minority Shiite Muslim, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters.

Although Gilgit-Baltistan is a relatively peaceful area, it has experienced attacks by radical Sunni Muslims on Shiites in recent years.

The attackers took the money and passports from the foreigners and then gunned them down, said the official. It's unclear how the Chinese tourist who was rescued managed to avoid being killed. The base camp has basic wooden huts, but most tourists choose to sleep in their own tents.

Local police chief Barkat Ali said they first learned of the attack when one of the local guides called the police station around 1 a.m. on Sunday. The military airlifted the bodies to Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, Sunday afternoon.

"We hope Pakistani authorities will do their best to find the culprits of this crime," the Ukrainian ambassador to Pakistan, Volodymyr Lakomov, told reporters outside the hospital where the bodies were taken.

The Pakistani government condemned the "brutal act of terrorism" in a statement sent to reporters.

"Those who have committed this heinous crime seem to be attempting to disrupt the growing relations of Pakistan with China and other friendly countries," said a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry.

Pakistan has very close ties with neighboring China and is sensitive to any issue that could harm the relationship. Pakistani officials have reached out to representatives from China and Ukraine to convey their sympathies, the Foreign Ministry said.

Many foreign tourists stay away from Pakistan because of the perceived danger of visiting a country that is home to a large number of Islamic militant groups, such as the Taliban and al-Qaida, which mostly reside in the northwest near the Afghan border. A relatively small number of intrepid foreigners visit Gilgit-Baltistan during the summer to marvel at the peaks of the Himalayan and Karakoram ranges, including K2, the second highest mountain in the world.

Syed Mehdi Shah, the chief minister of Gilgit-Baltistan, condemned the attack and expressed fear that it would seriously damage the region's tourism industry.

"A lot of tourists come to this area in the summer, and our local people work to earn money from these people," said Shah. "This will not only affect our area, but will adversely affect all of Pakistan."

The area has been cordoned off by police and paramilitary soldiers, and a military helicopter was searching the area, said Shah.

"God willing we will find the perpetrators of this tragic incident," said Shah.

The government suspended the chief secretary and top police chief in Gilgit-Baltistan following the attack and ordered an inquiry into the incident, said Khan, the interior minister.

• Theresa May urged to ban "anti-Islam" campaigners entering UK to ... Mirror.co.uk-by Paul Cockerton-Jun 21, 2013
• EDL rally: Theresa May considers banning US bloggers from UK
  
  BBC News ‎June 22, 2013
• EDL Invites US Anti-Muslim 'Hate Bloggers' Pam Geller and Robert Spencer to ... IBTimes.co.uk - ‎Jun 20, 2013‎
• Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer To Speak At EDL Rally In Woolwich, Campaigners Call For UK Entry Ban ... Huffington Post UK - ‎Jun 20, 2013‎
• Fears over right-wing speakers invited to EDL march ITV News-Jun 21, 2013

Kevin Rawlinson of The Independent claims Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller didn't respond to requests he never made Jihadwatch

It is customary for mainstream media "journalists" to lie, but this "news report" is singularly mendacious.

Note the headline. Why is it "right-wing" to fight for the freedom of speech, the freedom of conscience, and equality of rights for all people? The term is essentially meaningless -- what it really means when agenda-driven pseudo-journalists like Rawlinson use it is "This person is bad. Don't support him."

"Right-wing American speakers planning to join the EDL's Woolwich march 'should be banned from entering the country,'" by Kevin Rawlinson for the Independent, June 21:

The Home Secretary is understood to be considering a request to ban two of the people behind a campaign against New York’s "Ground Zero Mosque" from entering the UK.

Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer, who are among America’s most notorious anti-Muslim campaigners, have been invited to speak at an English Defence League rally in Woolwich to mark Armed Forces Day and the death of Drummer Lee Rigby. But the chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee Keith Vaz has written to Ms May expressing his concern and labelling them “incendiary speakers”.

"Anti-Muslim": Leftists and Islamic supremacists favor this label because it implies that those who are fighting for freedom are actually against a particular group, and want to deny them rights rather than protect the rights of all. It is a particularly repugnant canard not only because it suggests that defending freedom and human rights constitutes bigotry, but because it paints a huge target on the backs of those to whom the label is applied -- a target that those who style themselves the defenders of Islam are all too eager to take a shot at.

"The death of Drummer Lee Rigby": You may recall that Rigby didn't die of natural causes. He was brutally murdered by a Muslim who immediately invoked the Qur'an to explain and justify his murder. Think about that: Kevin Rawlinson and those who are trying to keep us out of the U.K. (the petition against us has the same language about Rigby) gloss over the facts about Rigby's murder because they are, in effect, rushing to the aid of those who committed it, and demonizing those who are saying that we must resist this brutality.

In his letter, Mr Vaz wrote: “These individuals are infamous in America for inciting racial hatred, including sponsoring discriminatory advertisements placed on public transport.

What race is jihad terror against innocent civilians again? I keep forgetting. And what discrimination have we ever advocated in any of our ads? None whatsoever. Vaz is, of course, lying.

“It is clear that the location, motivation and attendees at this march will incite hatred. Adding incendiary speakers such as Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer just fuels the fire.”

Resisting jihad will incite hatred, doncha know. Better we just keep silent and surrender.

Ms Geller is notorious in particular because of her involvement in an advertising campaign which called some radical Muslims “savages”. Along with Mr Spencer, she runs the anti-Islamic Stop Islamization of America.

"Savages": At least Rawlinson had the minimal decency, unlike Hope Not Hate, to note that the ad didn't call all Muslims savages. One wonders, however, why calling "some radical Muslims" savages would make someone "notorious." If someone acts like a savage, say, by brutally murdering an entire family as they slept, and others act like savages by passing out candy and celebrating those murders, then it is refreshing to find someone like Pamela Geller with enough courage to call a savage a savage. If that makes her "notorious," then our entire body politic should strive to be "notorious" as well, instead of ignoring this evil and kowtowing to its perpetrators.

"Anti-Islamic": Brave pro-democracy demonstrators are fighting against Islamization these days in Turkey and Egypt. They are Muslims, but they want secular government, not Sharia. Are they "anti-Islamic" as well?

Mr Vaz’s opposition follows pressure from campaign groups like Hope not Hate, which also wrote to the Home Secretary. In its letter, the ant-racism [sic] organisation wrote that they believed the pair’s objective was to “incite hatred against all Muslims”. They also wrote that the “consequences of their very presence in the UK will give encouragement to racists and extremists, who seek to use the awful murder of Drummer Lee Rigby to further their hateful agenda”.

"Anti-racism": What race was the jihad beheading of Lee Rigby on a street in Woolwich?

"Incite hatred against all Muslims": It is Hope Not Hate, Kevin Rawlinson, and others who perpetuate this canard who are doing this, not Pamela Geller or I. We never speak about "all Muslims" in any way, or call for any illegal action or any action at all against innocent people. But people like Keith Vaz, Nick Lowles of Hope Not Hate, who could not defend his claims about me on the BBC yesterday, and Kevin Rawlinson want you to believe that we target innocent Muslims, so as to demonize and discredit us -- and enable the jihadists for whom they are so eagerly serving as Useful Idiots.

"Racists": What race was the Boston Marathon jihad bombing?

"Extremists": Why is it "extremism" to defend the freedom of speech, the freedom of conscience, and the equality of rights of all people before the law? Well, I guess if you're a jihad enabler like Keith Vaz, that does constitute "extremism."

The letter added: “We believe that there is no place for such hate in the United Kingdom… by holding a march and rally in Woolwich the EDL is attempting to whip up racism and hatred against all Muslims. Having Geller and Spencer speaking at their rally will only give them additional attention.

"Racism": What race was the Fort Hood jihad massacre?

"Hatred against all Muslims": Muslims who genuinely reject jihad terror and Islamic supremacism, as all the major Muslim organizations in the U.K. claim to do, should be standing with us. Instead, they demonize us as well. How revealing.

“We believe in freedom of speech and the rights of people to hold and express different views. However, in a democracy there have to be limits on people abusing these freedoms to incite hatred and we believe that Geller and Spencer are seeking to do just that.”

"We believe in freedom of speech and the rights of people to hold and express different views": No, you don't. Who decides which people are "abusing these freedoms" and must therefore be muzzled?

"Incite hatred": It is not "hatred" to decry jihad violence and say that there should be one law for all people in a society, without one group having special rights.

The EDL plans to hold a march in Woolwich on Saturday 29 June. Anders Gravers, from Stop the Islamisation of Denmark will be the third speaker. The relationship between his organisation and the EDL was strengthened recently when senior figures in the latter visited mainland Europe to meet fellow extremist anti-Islamic organisations.

"Extremist": If it is "extremist" to stand against Islamization, are all those protesters in Turkey and Egypt "extremist"? If it is "extremist" to memorialize Lee Rigby, was his murderer, Mujahid Adebolajo, a "moderate"?

A government source indicated that the Home Secretary was looking into the proposal to ban the pair. However, a spokesman refused to confirm this, saying that it would not be appropriate to discuss individual cases.

Mr Vaz said: “I am alarmed that the EDL is planning this type of march in Woolwich. Before we have to pay the costs for the extra policing required for this demonstration the Home Secretary should consider using her discretion to ban these two speakers from entering the country. A ban should be enforced properly and physically stop people entering our borders.”

"Extra policing": Why would this event require extra policing? Not because of me or Pamela Geller, but because of Leftists and Islamic jihadists who would want to do us bodily harm. But according to Vaz, we, not they, are the problem.

Scotland Yard said that it was aware of the march and would have an appropriate policing plan in place.

EDL co-founder Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – who also goes by the name ‘Tommy Robinson’ - said: “It is ridiculous. We want other extremists to be banned from entering the country. These two people have never been arrested, they are well-respected in America. It is fascism, to me.”

Fascism it is indeed.

Neither Ms Geller nor Mr Spencer responded to requests for comment.

Here Rawlinson is lying outright. He made no attempt to contact me. I asked Pamela Geller about this, and he didn't make any attempt to contact her, either. He apparently decided to lie about this rather than have to carry any quotes from us countering all his lies and distortions in this story -- better to let them stand unchallenged.

Acid attack on Pashto actress in Nowshera By Zahir Shah Sherazi, Dawn, June 22, 2013

PESHAWAR: A young Pashto actress suffered critical burn injuries Saturday after a local TV drama producer allegedly threw acid on her while she was asleep in her home, family members claimed.

Akhtar Waiz, the brother of 18-year-old Bushra, told Dawn.com that the family was asleep in the courtyard of their home in Nowshera early Saturday when the attacker barged into the house, throwing acid on Bushra. The brother said his feet were also burnt with drops of acid.

Bushra, who is also known as Shazia Aziz, is a Pashto-language singer, actress and theatre artist from Pabbi area in Nowshera district of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The family members of the young actress have accused her producer Shaukat Khan, who had been forcing her for marriage and was also not willing to pay her the money he owed her for her work, they claim.

“I couldn’t see him myself but I am sure he was Shaukat as my sister had refused to continue working in his dramas and that’s why he resorted to this act of violence,” he alleged.

The actress was brought to Peshawar’s Lady Reading Hospital with severe burn injuries on the right side of her face. Doctors said her right leg and arm were also badly affected by the highly concentrated acid.

Bushra’s right eye was also swollen but doctors said she may not have lost her vision, and was in her senses when brought to the hospital.

“My daughter used to work as an actress and was hired by a producer named Shaukat Khan to act in his stage dramas and plays…but he was not willing to pay her and this led to a number of verbal arguments following which she refused to continue her acting,” said the victim’s mother.

“We have registered a case against Shaukat Khan as he was also forcing her to marry him,” she said. Ijaz Khan, the chief officer (SHO) at Pabbi police station confirmed an FIR (police report) has been registered against Shaukat Khan on the complaint of the victim’s family.

Khan said the police have initiated its investigation.

The accused, Shaukat Khan, was unavailable for comment.

Acid attacks on the rise in northwest Pakistan

Bushra is only the most recent victim of acid attacks – a crime that experts say is on the rise in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

In year 2012, 150 acid attack cases were registered in Pakistan, 30 of which were reported from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Mardan district alone.

According to the Islamabad-based NGO, Acid Survivors Foundation, the data shows an upward trend in this form of violence on womenfolk. 45 per cent of the acid attacks are the result of family feuds while 17 per cent are linked to over marriage refusals.

Keeping in view the population of KP, the number of reported cases has put the province at a higher risk of acid-related violence, said ASF Pakistan chairperson Valerie Khan Yousafzai.

Peshawar, Dera Ismail Khan and Mardan are the districts where such cases have been reported in the last few years while no proper legislation exists for punishing the perpetrators of the crime, she said.

According to a report by the Aurat Foundation in January 2013, although the total number of report cases of violence against women has decreased by 12 per cent, a deeper analysis shows a significant 89 per cent increase in reported cases of acid-throwing, followed by a 62 per cent rise in domestic violence.

Qamar Naseem, coordinator at women’s rights organization Blue Veins said that the rising trend of using acid as “a weapon against women in KP/FATA is really alarming and needs to be curbed.”

Naseem said that although the Acid Crime and Control Act, 2010 provides protection to victims and punishment to perpetrators of life terms in prison and Rs 500,000 fine, there is a dire need for its implementation.

He urged the provincial government to restrict the sale of acids in the open market, and to come up with comprehensive legislation to stop this form of violence against women.

Obama's favorite "and most trusted" ally turned water cannons and tear gas on peaceful people observing a memorial for those he killed in recent protests.

Erdogan accused those involved in the protests in Turkey's main western cities of being disrespectful towards Islam.

Erdogan's vicious response to the people of Turkey's call for the return to democratic freedoms should put the brakes on the recent great push to move forward with Turkey's membership into the EU (here).

Atlas reader "P" in Turkey writes:

A huge gathering in Istanbul's Taksim Square to honor the dead and injured of the movement styled the "Gezi resistance" by secular Turks against Islamization and authoritarianism has ended much as did the first phase of the resistance -- in a shower of pressurized water and tear gas.

Taksim was crowded by day and heavily packed in the evening.  There were red carnations everywhere including around the Ataturk monument at the feet of the statues of the founder of the republic and his colleagues and two in his hand.  The atmosphere was peaceful and mildly festive.  Children climbed on and gamboled about the monument.  There was the usual chanting of "shoulder to shoulder" and some newer chants about "Everywhere is Taksim, the resistance will go on, this is only the beginning." Something new to me was people jumping while shouting and fluttering hands in the air, jazz dance style.  I got bored, though, and headed home at 8:15.  My neighbor T, unbeknownst to me had left at 8 thinking the crowd was so big that something was bound to happen.  I couldn't see the police from my spot at the top of Istiklal street right near the monument, but another neighbor C reported them being at a distance looking tired. A stop to shop and chat delayed my arrival home 'til 9:30.  From the shop we heard the pot banging and whistling as enthusiastic as for the past several nights.  At a little after ten I started getting tweets and retweets, which NTV confirmed, that the police had asked the crowd to disperse.  It didn't.  The police quickly opened fire with a water cannon.  BBC said no gas was used at Taxim, but Cihangir is wreaking with it.  C and T report being gassed in their homes for failing to close the windows soon enough, and C is sure it's "OC" (I haven't a clue what she means).  There's a slight smell of it in my apartment.  C says the police tried to stop the banging of pots and pans at 9 and for several minutes after.  Then the demonstration was below her window and gas rolling up the street.At some point the police fired tear gas down Istiklal at people chanting "Police, please don't betray your people," according to a retweet by C from a woman at the scene..

I went out and up Defterdar Yokuşu (Incline) to see if the owner of the little liquor store/grocery a block up the hill had news on Ulus TV (I can't get it) that runs continuous news.  But young men pounding at high speed down the hill and the smell of gas sent me back home before I could get to the shop. This gathering was entirely peaceful.  I've read that Article 34 of the Turkish constitution makes a public gathering legal, though hedged about with public order requirements. There was no threat to public order;  no angry shouting or gesturing, no spray painting, no throwing of anything. Many carried flags saying "Taksim Solidarity" or smallish hand made signs.  I saw a young girl with a tag board and crayon tiara of trees. C and I both think traffic was about normal while we were there, but on NTV the street in between the square and the Marmara hotel looks full of people blocking traffic while a police officer is using a bull horn to request that they disperse. I wouldn't call the event a demonstration, nor a formal ceremony.  It was a partly subdued, partly festive gathering to honor people who've paid a price, four of them the ultimate price, for freedom."

"Turkish riot police break up protest rallies" Al Jazeera, June 23, 2013 (thanks to Suneil)

Water cannon used to disperse people in Istanbul and Ankara observing memorial for those killed in recent protests.

Turkish riot police have fired water cannon to disperse thousands of anti-government demonstrators in Istanbul trying to observe a memorial for four people killed during recent anti-government protests.

Saturday's unrest in Taksim Square ended six days of relative calm in Turkey's biggest city, although it was a long way from matching the intensity of previous clashes there and in other cities that began more than three weeks ago.

In the capital Ankara, riot police fired water cannon and tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesters, some of them shouting slogans against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and at one location they built barricades to block a main street, according to witnesses.

In Istanbul, Turkey's biggest city, demonstrators threw carnations at a phalanx of officers carrying shields who slowly advanced towards them, flanked by water cannon, to clear Taksim Square.

"Police, don't betray your people!" activists shouted after they had been scattered into streets leading to the public square.

An Associated Press news agency journalist said police drove back protesters into side streets off Taksim - including the main pedestrian shopping street Istiklal - and later fired several rounds of tear gas and rubber bullets to scatter the crowds who refused to disperse.

There were no immediate reports of any injuries.

Police baton charge

Dogan news agency footage showed two police officers hitting protesters with batons and kicking them as they forced their way through Istiklal street.

A few demonstrators threw rocks at a police water cannon, while other protesters tried to calm them down and prevent them from attacking police.

The unrest began when police used force against campaigners opposed to plans to develop Gezi Park which adjoins Taksim Square.

The clashes in Istanbul on Saturday did not match the intensity of the previous demonstrations there and in other cities [AFP]

They quickly turned into a broader show of anger at what critics call Erdogan's growing authoritarianism.

Earlier on Sunday, Erdogan, 59, told thousands of supporters in the Black Sea city of Samsun that the unrest played into the hands of Turkey's enemies.

A crowd of some 15,000 of his AK Party faithful cheered and waved Turkish flags as he called on the public to give their answer to demonstrations at the ballot box when Turkey holds municipal elections next March.

The rally in the party stronghold was the fourth in a series of mass meetings which Erdogan has called since protests began in Istanbul at the start of June in an unprecedented challenge on the streets to his 10-year rule.

In a speech appealing to conservative grassroots support, Erdogan accused those involved in the protests in Turkey's main western cities of being disrespectful towards Islam, the religion of the vast majority of the population of 76 million.

"Let them go into mosques in their shoes, let them drink alcohol in our mosques, let them raise their hand to our headscarved girls. One prayer from our people is enough to frustrate their plans," Erdogan said, before tossing red carnations to the crowd after his speech.

Liberal-conservative divide

The protests have underlined divisions in Turkish society between religious conservatives who form the bedrock of Erdogan's support and more liberal Turks who have swelled the ranks of demonstrators.

Erdogan, who has led Turkey through an economic boom and still enjoys broad popular support, claimed an "interest rate lobby" of speculators in financial markets had benefited from the unrest.

Spotlight Follow Al Jazeera's coverage of growing political unrest

"Who won from these three weeks of protests? The interest rate lobby, Turkey's enemies," Erdogan said from a stage emblazoned with his portrait and a slogan calling for his supporters to "thwart the big game" played out against Turkey.

"Who lost from these protests? Turkey's economy, even if to a small extent, tourism lost. They overshadowed and stained Turkey's image and international power."

Erdogan declared that the Latin American nation of Brazil, which has been hit by mass rallies in recent days, was the target of the same conspirators he claims are trying to destabilise Turkey.

"The same game is now being played over Brazil," he said.

"The symbols are the same, the posters are the same, Twitter, Facebook are the same, the international media is the same. They [the protests] are being led from the same centre.

Erdogan will address a rally on Sunday in the eastern city of Erzurum, also an AK Party stronghold.

Verdict due

During his decade in power, which has seen him unchallenged on the political stage, Erdogan has curbed the powers of an army that toppled four governments in four decades and pursued an end to 30 years of Kurdish rebellion.

Hundreds of military officers have been jailed on charges of plotting a coup against him.

The ongoing protests have underlined divisions in Turkish society between religious conservatives and more liberal Turks [AFP]

A court near Istanbul is due to announce on August 5 its verdict on nearly 300 defendants accused of separate plots to overthrow the government.

The defendants include academics, journalists and politicians.

Also on Saturday, a court in Ankara charged 22 more people over alleged role in anti-government protests.

They were accused of acting on behalf of a far-left "terrorist" group, according to lawyers.

The court charged the 22 and ordered them to be detained, the Contemporary Lawyers Association said.

Three others were released and placed under judicial supervision, it said.

The indictments bring to at least 46 the number of people facing charges over the demonstrations.

More tolerance, respect and interfaith dialogue from savage supremacists. And they demand that voices of freedom be banned entry into the UK.

"Graves sprayed with red graffiti" Milton Keynes Citizen, June 23, 2013 (thanks to TROP)

Sick graffiti vandals crept into a cemetery to spray graves with Islamic messages.

The thugs used red paint to spray ‘Islam is great’ in large letters on one neatly-maintained grave.

On another headstone they painted the word ‘Islam’.

Visitors to the New Bradwell cemetery complained to council officials, who immediately sent out a graffiti removal squad.

Using specialist cleaning substances, council workers scrubbed the stones until no sign of the paint remained.

A spokesman said:“We have a policy to remove racist or highly offensive graffiti as soon as possible.

“We were very keen to remove this as soon as possible to minimise any further distress to the families.”

The council has appealed for information from anybody who saw people acting suspiciously around the graves.

“If we find out who is responsible we would certainly want them prosecuted and punished,” said the spokesman.

It is not yet known whether CCTV evidence will offer any clues to the perpetrators.

The name on the defaced grave pictured has been disguised by the Citizen to avoid distress to relatives.

Meanwhile other families who visit New Bradwell cemetery are furious about the vandalism.

“We’re worried they will strike again and damage other headstones,” said one visitor.

“To spray graffiti anywhere is mindless vandalism, but to deface a grave is the sickest thing imaginable.”