Indonesia executes foreign convicts despite protests

Yahoo – AFP, Muhammad Azka, July 28, 2016

Indonesian men light candles during an anti-execution rally in front of the
presidential palace in Jakarta on July 28, 2016 (AFP Photo/Bay Ismoyo)

Cilacap (Indonesia) (AFP) - Indonesia Friday executed four drug convicts, three of them foreigners, by firing squad, an official said, drawing swift condemnation as Jakarta pushes on with its tough campaign of capital punishment.

Ten others expected to have faced the firing squad, including nationals from Pakistan, India and Zimbabwe as well as Indonesians, were not put to death but officials said they would be executed at a later stage.

Authorities did not give a reason for the reprieve, but the prison island where they were expected to be executed in outdoor clearings was hit by a major storm as the other sentences were carried out.

The executions, which saw an Indonesian and three Nigerians face the firing squad, were the first in the country since April last year when authorities put to death eight drug convicts, including two Australians.

President Joko Widodo has defended dramatically ramping up the use of capital punishment, saying that Indonesia is fighting a war on drugs and traffickers must be heavily punished.

Noor Rachmad, deputy attorney general for general crimes, said the latest executions were "done not in order to take lives but to stop evil intentions, and the evil act of drug trafficking".

He added that "the rest (of the executions) will be carried out in stages", saying that the timings had not yet been decided.

Amnesty International condemned the executions, with the group's Rafendi Djamin labelling them "a deplorable act".

"Any executions that are still to take place must be halted immediately. The injustice already done cannot be reversed, but there is still hope that it won't be compounded," he said.

The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the European Union had also voiced opposition to the plan in recent days.

Friday's executions, which happened at 12:45 am (1745 GMT Thursday), came after a day of frenetic activity, with distraught relatives travelling to Nusakambangan island to say farewells to their loved ones and ambulances carrying coffins over to the heavily guarded penal colony.

Relatives carry photographs of Pakistani national Zulfiqar Ali, who was 

sentenced to death in 2005 for heroin possession in Indonesia, during a 

protest in Lahore on July 28, 2016 (AFP Photo/Arif Ali)

Execution drive

The executed Indonesian was named as Freddy Budiman, while the three Nigerians were: Seck Osmane, Humphrey Jefferson Ejike Eleweke and Michael Titus Igweh.

Eleweke's lawyer, Afif Abdul Qoyim, told AFP the execution should not have gone ahead as his client this week filed a legal appeal.

"When this process in not respected, that means that this is no longer a country that upholds the law, nor human rights," he said.

Two people whose cases had raised high-profile international concern among rights groups were not executed.

The first was Pakistani Zulfiqar Ali, whom rights groups say was beaten into confessing to the crime of heroin possession, leading to his 2005 death sentence.

Syed Zahid Raza, the deputy Pakistani ambassador in Indonesia, hailed his reprieve as a victory and said it was due to diplomatic efforts in Jakarta and Islamabad.

The other was Indonesian woman Merri Utami, who was caught with heroin in her bag as she came through Jakarta airport and claims she was duped into becoming a drug mule.

At Cilacap, the city closest to Nusakambangan, family members were initially shocked to learn on Thursday morning their relatives would be executed in a matter of hours, having initially thought it would take place a day later.

Some distressed relatives protested their loved ones' innocence, while 10 women's rights activists rallying in support of Utami were detained.

It was the third batch of executions under Widodo, and means 18 drug convicts -- mostly foreigners -- have been put to death since he became leader in 2014.

His execution drive has shocked the international community and disappointed activists, particularly as hopes were high that Widodo, seen as a fresh face in a political world dominated by figures from Indonesia's authoritarian past, would improve the country's rights record.

Indonesian Ambassador Dies in Singapore, 11 Days After Pakistan Crash

Jakarta Globe, Novy Lumanauw, May 19, 2015

Pakistani army soldiers carry coffins, wrapped in national flags and carrying
 bodies of helicopter crash victims, at the Nur Khan air base in Islamabad on
May 9. (Reuters Photo/Faisal Mahmood)

Jakarta. Indonesia’s ambassador to Pakistan, Burhan Muhammad, died at a hospital in Singapore on Tuesday, 11 days since suffering severe injuries in a helicopter crash in northern Pakistan in which his wife was killed.

Burhan, 57, reportedly died at 12:50 a.m. from severe burns sustained in the May 8 crash. His body will be flown to Jakarta on Tuesday evening for a memorial service at the Foreign Ministry office, before being taken to his hometown of Yogyakarta for burial.

“I pray that he earns a good place by Allah’s side and that the family he leaves behind be given strength,” President Joko Widodo said in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Foreign Minister Retno L.P. Marsudi said separately that Indonesia had “lost one of its best diplomats.”

Burhan was among several diplomats on board a Pakistani military Mi-17 helicopter on the way to inspect a tourism project in northern Pakistan’s Gilgit region when it crashed. The Pakistani Taliban initially claimed responsibility for shooting down the helicopter, but the government insisted that the crash was due to engine failure.

Hery Listyawati, Burhan’s wife, was killed in the crash, along with the Philippine and Norwegian ambassadors to Pakistan, as well as the wife of Malaysia’s ambassador and three Pakistani crew members.

Xi Jinping to visit Pakistan, Indonesia

Want China Times, Xinhua 2015-04-18

Xi Jinping attends a conference in Hainan province, March 29. (File photo/CNS)

Chinese president Xi Jinping will visit Pakistan and attend meetings in Indonesia next week, the foreign ministry announced on Friday morning.

The president will pay a state visit to Pakistan on Monday and Tuesday at the invitation of Pakistani president Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

At the invitation of Indonesian president Joko Widodo, Xi will attend the Asian-African Summit and activities to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Bandung Conference from Tuesday to Friday.

Xi's two-day state visit to Pakistan will be his first trip to the South Asian country since he assumed the presidency in 2013.

Foreign minister Wang Yi said the visit would provide a powerful impetus to the China-Pakistan friendship and deepen comprehensive collaboration.

This year is the China-Pakistan Year of Friendly Exchanges.

The two countries are scheduled to issue a joint statement during Xi's visit, and sign deals on energy, infrastructure, trade, finance and technology.

"The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) will be high on the agenda," former Chinese ambassador to Pakistan Zhou Gang said.

The CPEC was proposed during Premier Li Keqiang's visit to Pakistan in May 2013. The planned corridor will connect Kashgar in China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region with Gwadar Port in Pakistan. A project outline was signed in Beijing last November.

"The corridor is a new platform for China-Pakistan cooperation," said assistant foreign minister Liu Jianchao Friday at a press briefing.

After Pakistan, Xi will travel to Jakarta, Indonesia, for the Asian-African Summit. During this visit, Xi will go to the heritage city of Bandung, West Java, to attend events on the 60th anniversary of the Bandung Conference.

Xi will deliver a speech at the Asian-African Summit on the Bandung spirit in a new era, and elaborate China's proposals for Asian-African cooperation and hold bilateral meetings with other leaders.

In 1955, representatives from 29 Asian and African countries gathered in Bandung to discuss independence, peace and economic prosperity. The conference adopted a final communique containing ten principles that underlined respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations and recognized the equality of all races and all nations.

"The Bandung Conference was a milestone for Chinese diplomacy as China, together with India and Myanmar, proposed the five principles on peaceful relations," Ma Zhengang, a former Chinese diplomat, said, adding that a number of Asian countries opened diplomatic relations with China after the conference.

The visits to Pakistan and Indonesia highlight China's attitude to its neighbors.

"The visit is a substantial step in building a community of shared destiny with neighboring countries," said Zhai Kun, professor of international relations with the Peking University, noting this community is not an abstract concept, but is built on solid platforms like the belt and road initiative, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the Silk Road fund.

The belt and road initiative, also known as the Silk Road economic belt and the 21st century maritime Silk Road, connect East Asia at one end with Europe at the other.

With 57 founding members confirmed, the AIIB is scheduled to adopt a charter in June and start operations by the end of the year.

Pope meets relatives of Pakistani Christian on death row

Yahoo - AFP,  April 15, 2015

Pope Francis waves at the faithful on St. Peter's square on April 15, 2014
after his weekly general audience at the Vatican (AFP Photo/Vincenzo Pinto)

Pope Francis on Wednesday met the husband and daughter of Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman sentenced to death over blasphemy charges, the Vatican said.

"I pray for Asia, for you and for all Christians who are suffering," Francis told Bibi's husband Ashiq Masiq and their 15-year-old daughter, according to the Vatican Insider website.

Mother of five Bibi has been on death row since a row broke out in 2009 with a group of women she was working with in a field.

They accused her of insulting the Muslim Prophet Mohammed, a charge she denies. Soon afterwards, she was jailed and sentenced by a court to death by hanging.

Bibi's death sentence was confirmed in October 2014 by the Lahore High Court.

Helped by an NGO to travel to Europe, Bibi's husband and daughter are seeking to rally support for their cause. They want European officials to take up the issue with Islamabad.

Last November, the EU parliament called on Pakistan to overhaul its blasphemy laws with a view to repealing them, saying they were being used to target Christians and other minorities.

Bibi is waiting for the final ruling of the Supreme Court.

Her case is set to go back to trial in May.

During the recent Easter celebration, Bibi asked Pope Francis to pray for her. Several months earlier, she had sent him a letter.

Pope Francis is widely seen as a champion of the poor and marginalised.

In 2010, his predecessor Benedict XVI had publicly called for Bibi's release.

While Francis has not made such a plea, he has called for the end of persecution of Christians in Pakistan and everywhere else.

Blasphemy is a hugely sensitive issue in Pakistan, with even unproven allegations often prompting mob violence.

Related Articles:

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Pope: 'Death penalty represents failure' – no 'humane' way to kill a person

FIFA authorises wearing of veils, turbans during matches

Google – AFP, 1 March 2014

Picture taken on November 30, 2006 shows Jordan midfielder Abeer Al Nahar

 at a training session at the Al-Arabi Football Stadium in Doha (AFP/File,

Toshifumi Kitamura)

Zurich — Football's world governing body FIFA on Saturday officially authorised the wearing of head covers for religious purposes during matches.

"It was decided that female players can cover their heads to play," said FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke at a meeting of the International Football Association Board (IFAB), the sport's lawmakers, in Zurich.

That will allow female Muslim players who wear a veil in everyday life to cover their heads during matches, and Valcke added that male players will also be authorised to do so following a request from the Sikh community of Canada.

"It was decided that male players can play with head cover too," he said, although they will not be the same as those worn day-to-day.

"It will be a basic head cover and the colour should be the same as the team jersey."

The wearing of head covers had been banned until 2012, with FIFA saying that they posed too great a risk of injury to the head or neck.

However, the IFAB then allowed for them to be tested out over a two-year period following a request from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), a trial which proved to be successful.

Iranian women footballers run with the national flag at a stadium in Amman on

 June 3, 2011 moments after they were barred from playing an Olympic qualifier

against Jordan for wearing the traditional Islamic headscarf (AFP)

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Iran agreed the girls could swap
their headscarves for caps

Pakistani Ban Of Malala Book In Dispute

Radio Free Europe, November 2013

Malala Yousufzai's book, "I Am Malala," is seen on sale in Islamabad.

ISLAMABAD -- An official representing some 10,000 private schools in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province is distancing his association from efforts to ban a book by teenage education activist Malala Yousafzai.

Earlier, news agencies quoted the chiefs of two other private-school associations -- the All-Pakistan Private Schools Federation and the All-Pakistan Private Schools Management Association -- as saying they wanted to ban the book, "I Am Malala," because of its anti-Islamic and anti-Pakistani content.

But Aqeel Razaq, the head of the All Private Schools Executive Association in the northwestern province, told RFE/RL that no such ban was being enforced and that his organization had never discussed the issue.

"We can only ban books that are related to our curriculum. This book was never considered to be included into our curriculum," Razaq said.

"This is a general book and will not be affected by our ban. If students want to read books on their own, it is their choice. They can read anything."

Razaq said that Malala's book had been criticized on television talk shows and in newspaper columns but that this did not affect their views about Malala.

"At this point, we do not have an official policy of whether to encourage or discourage our children from reading the book," he said.

"We know Malala Yousafzai for her struggle for girls' education. Whether her book is controversial or not is a separate issue," Razaq added. "But Malala Yousafzai is a great name and has turned into the pride of Pakistan."

Attacked By Conservatives

Pakistan is rife with conspiracy theories about Malala. Some private-school officials and conservative commentators have alleged that she is being promoted by the West for its own interests.

They say her book does not show appropriate respect for the Prophet Muhammad because it fails to use the abbreviation PBUH -- "peace be upon him" -- as is customary in Pakistan.

ALSO READ: A Look At The Family Behind Malala

In addition, they also accuse her of praising "The Satanic Verses" author Salman Rushdie, who is accused of blasphemy by Islamist extremists.

Malala's supporters point out that Malala only said in the book that while her father viewed "The Satanic Verses" as offensive to Islam, "he believes strongly in the freedom of speech." The book quotes Ziauddin Yousafzai as telling fellow Muslims, "First, let's read the book and why not respond with our own book?"

Some conservative commentators are also offended by the book's description of the plight of minorities in Pakistan and by criticism of the country's powerful army.

Malala was seriously injured when she was shot in the head by the Taliban in 2012. She earned global fame and received many awards after recovering from her injuries and was considered a top candidate for the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize.

WATCH: Malala Yousafzai's thoughts on her life before and after the attack, based on an extensive interview with RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal:

Related Article:

The brave girl who had to face armed assassins because she stood up for her right to educate herself

First Pakistani women paratroopers make history

Google – AFP, 14 July 2013

Pakistan paratroopers forces take part in military drills near Karachi 

(AFP/File, Asif Hassan)

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan's first group of female paratroopers completed their training on Sunday, the military announced, hailing it as a "landmark achievement" for the deeply conservative Muslim country.

Captain Kiran Ashraf was declared the best paratrooper of the batch of 24, the military said in a statement, while Captain Sadia, referred to by one name, became the first woman officer to jump from a MI-17 helicopter.

Women have limited opportunities in Pakistan's highly traditional, patriarchal society. The United Nations says only 40 percent of adult women are literate, and they are frequently the victims of violence and abuse.

But in 2006 seven women broke into one of Pakistan's most exclusive male clubs to graduate as fighter pilots -- perhaps the most prestigious job in the powerful military and for six decades closed to the fairer sex.

After three weeks' basic airborne training, which included exit, flight and landing techniques, the new paratroopers completed their first jump on Sunday and were given their "wings" by the commander of Special Services Group, Major General Abid Rafique, the military said.

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Malala delivers defiant riposte to Taliban militants as UN hails 'our hero'

Women far better off in Aceh: Study

VEILED SOLDIERS: Women soldiers line up during the

 52nd anniversary of the Iskandar Muda military battalion

 in Banda Aceh on Monday. Under Aceh's local sharia-based

 ordinance, all women including soldiers, are required

to wear veils in public. JP/Hotli Simanjuntak

Malala delivers defiant riposte to Taliban militants as UN hails 'our hero'

'They thought that the bullet would silence us. But they failed,' says Malala, 16, at UN to push campaign for girls' education

guardian.co.uk, Ed Pilkington in New York, Friday 12 July 2013

Malala Yousafzai spoke at the UN in New York on her 16th birthday, a day
now dubbed Malala Day. Photograph: Mary Altaffer/AP

When the Taliban sent a gunman to shoot Malala Yousafzai last October as she rode home on a bus after school, they made clear their intention: to silence the teenager and kill off her campaign for girls' education.

Nine months and countless surgical interventions later, she stood up at the United Nations on her 16th birthday on Friday to deliver a defiant riposte. "They thought that the bullet would silence us. But they failed," she said.

As 16th birthdays go, it was among the more unusual. Instead of blowing out candles on a cake, Malala sat in one of the United Nation's main council chambers in the central seat usually reserved for world leaders.

She listened quietly as Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, described her as "our hero, our champion"; and as the former British prime minister and now UN education envoy, Gordon Brown, uttered what he called "the words the Taliban never wanted her to hear: happy 16th birthday, Malala".

The event, dubbed Malala Day, was the culmination of an extraordinary four years for the girl from Mingora, in the troubled Swat valley of Pakistan. She was thrust into the public glare after she wrote a pseudonymous but later celebrated blog for the BBC Urdu service describing her experiences struggling to get an education under the rising power of Taliban militants.

By 11 she was showing exceptional determination, calling personally on the US special representative to Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, to use his influence to combat the Taliban's drive against education for girls. By 14, she was on the radar of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who put her forward for the international children's peace prize, and by 15 she became the youngest Nobel peace prize nominee in history.

But such dizzying global attention came at a price. Death threats followed her growing recognition, and on 9 October 2012, following a meeting of Pakistani Taliban leaders, the gunman was dispatched to remove what they called the "symbol of infidels and obscenity".

Multiple operations in Pakistan and the UK followed the attack on the bus, including the fitting of a titanium plate on her left forehead, and a cochlear implant to restore her hearing. She now lives with her family in Birmingham and does what the Taliban tried to stop her doing: goes to school every day. "I am not against anyone," she said in the UN chamber, having taken this day out from the classroom. "Neither am I here to speak in terms of personal revenge against the Taliban or any other terrorist group."

Malala responded to the violence of the Taliban with her own countervailing force: words against bullets. "I do not even hate the Talib who shot me. Even if there is a gun in my hand and he stands in front of me, I would not shoot him."

She spoke confidently, with only an injured eye and a slightly drooping left side of her face to hint at such fresh traumas. There was one other unstated allusion to the horror of her past: she wore a white shawl belonging to a woman who was also targeted by extremists but who, unlike Malala, did not survive to tell the tale: Benazir Bhutto.

"The extremists are afraid of books and pens," the teenager continued. "The power of education frightens them. They are afraid of women. The power of the voice of women frightens them."

She cited last month's attack on a hospital in Quetta, capital of Baluchistan, and killings of female teachers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. "That is why they are blasting schools every day – because they were and they are afraid of change, afraid of the equality that we will bring to our society."

And she gave her own opposing interpretation of Islam to the Taliban's. "They think that God is a tiny, little conservative being who would send girls to the hell just because of going to school. The terrorists are misusing the name of Islam and Pashtun society for their own personal benefits. Islam is a religion of peace, humanity and brotherhood. Islam says that it is not only each child's right to get education, rather it is their duty and responsibility."

Such ability to articulate what normally remains unarticulated – to give voice to young people normally silenced – has generated its own response. The "stand with Malala" petition, calling for education for the 57m children around the world who do not go to school, has attracted more than 4m signatures – more than a million having been added in the past few days.

At the start of her speech, Malala said: "I don't know where to begin my speech. I don't know what people would be expecting me to say."

She need not have worried.

US Diplomat Hopes Song Can Win Over Pakistan

The Jakarta Globe, Damon Wake, December 07, 2012

Jenaiy from Black Box Sounds on Vimeo.
        

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In this picture taken on Dec. 5, 2012, 
Shayla Cram,  a US public diplomacy
 officer assigned to Peshawar, sings a
 Pashto song on her guitar in Islamabad. 
(AFP Photo/Aamir Qureshi) 

Islamabad. A US official is taking a novel approach to diplomacy in Pakistan — singing in a local language to build bridges in one of the world’s most dangerous countries, where anti-Americanism runs rampant.

Shayla Cram, a public diplomacy officer assigned to Peshawar, the gateway to Al-Qaeda and Taliban strongholds in the northwestern tribal belt, has not only learnt Pashto but has penned her own Pashto-style song.

“Jenaiy,” which means “girl,” is a tribute to Malala Yousafzai, the teenager who was shot in the head by the Taliban for promoting education for girls.

It features Cram on guitar and vocals and a Pakistani musician on the rabab — a traditional stringed instrument — and urges girls to have hope for the future and pursue their dreams.

“There’s definitely need in Pakistan to encourage young girls and females in their education and leadership, to make them young leaders, and that’s the basic message of my song,” Cram told AFP.

Women in Pakistan, particularly in northwestern rural areas, are frequently treated as second-class citizens, subjected to horrific violence in the name of family “honor,” and denied education.

Nationwide, fewer than half of women can read and write and militants are violently opposed to girls going to school — as showed by the October attack on Malala, now recovering in Britain.

Despite the anti-American feeling, Cram says the song has had a good response so far. She now plans to work with local musicians to record a whole album in other Pakistani languages.

“I would say 97 percent has been overwhelmingly positive and the other few people who have said that [given negative reactions], for example on our embassy Facebook page, are always our harshest critics no matter what we do,” she said.

Pakistan-US relations are on the rebound from a series of crises in 2011 that saw a CIA operative held for double murder, Osama bin Laden killed by US troops and botched air strikes kill 24 Pakistani soldiers.

Peshawar is regularly hit by militant bombings, including a deadly suicide attack on a US government convoy in September — and American diplomats’ movements are tightly controlled due to security worries.

Reaching out across the airwaves is a cheap and easy way to get around the frustrations of restrictions to make contact with people, Cram says.

“How can you do that for example in Peshawar when you can’t leave the [consulate] gates? How do I reach someone’s heart and let them know who I am and what I’m about as an American when I can’t physically go out?” she said.

“One of the most effective ways I think is through music, because it’s something people can connect to and understand in a simple way.”

The 29-year-old is no stranger to the musical limelight — she taught herself the guitar while working in west Africa, writing songs about HIV/AIDS and child trafficking that were still played on Togolese radio after she left the country.

While the embassy has been supportive, Cram received no financial assistance.

“Jenaiy” was recorded in a studio with the help of Pakistani friends in the music industry, and a slick video was shot in someone’s garden on the edge of Islamabad. The track has been sent to radio stations across the northwest.

Pastun culture has a rich and vibrant musical tradition, but critics warn Cram faces a tough task in trying to win over the public.

Sher Ali, a music journalist for English-language newspaper The Express Tribune, said success would depend on how much air play the track gets.

“The key is to get on the regional networks which connect to people in the grassroots,” he told AFP.

“The music is very mainstream and will connect with a certain class of urban listener, but Pakistan is very divided and a lot of the population you want to connect to with this message is working class or in rural areas.”

Rasheed Safi, head of news at Buraq Radio, one of the biggest stations in the northwest, welcomed Cram’s efforts but said her accent — picked up from her Afghan teachers in the US — might put listeners off.

“This is a good attempt and I appreciate that a US diplomat has learnt Pashto language and then sung a song, but the accent is Afghani, which is less attractive for Pakistani Pashto music lovers,” he told AFP.

The video can be seen at vimeo.com/54387742.

Agence France-Presse

Malala Yousafzai was attacked last month with two other
girls while travelling home from school in the Swat Valley. 
Photograph: Queen Elizabeth Hospital/PA

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Bali bombing suspect extradited to Indonesia

The Jakarta Post, Niniek Karmini, Associated Press, Jakarta

Top dog: In this 2007 file photo obtained by the Associated
Press  from a Philippine security official, Indonesian militant
 Umar Patek addresses fellow militants in an Abu Sayyaf mountain
 encampment on Jolo island in southern Philippines. Patek had a
US$1 million bounty on his head when he was captured in the
Pakistani town of Abbottabad Jan. 25, four months before Osama bin
Laden was killed there in a US commando attack. (AP/File)

An Indonesian militant who allegedly made the explosives used in the 2002 Bali bombings was escorted home under tight security Thursday, more than six months after he was captured in northwest Pakistan.

Umar Patek had a $1 million bounty on his head when authorities caught up with him Jan. 25 in Abbottabad - the same town where Osama bin Laden was killed in a U.S. commando attack four months later.

Indonesia's anti-terrorism chief, Ansyaad Mbai, told The Associated Press it did not appear to be a coincidence that they were in the same place.

"It's further evidence of the link between the Southeast Asian terror network and al-Qaida," he added, hours before the 41-year-old boarded an Indonesian plane sent to a Pakistani air force base.

Patek touched down outside Indonesia's capital, Jakarta, on Thursday morning and was taken straight to a police detention center in the West Java town of Kelapa Dua where he will await trial, he said. No date has been announced.

Indonesian officials say Patek has confessed to playing a key role in the 2002 Bali bombings, which killed 202 people, many of them foreign tourists, including 88 Australians.

He also admitted to making the bombs used in a string of Christmas Eve attacks on churches in 2000 that claimed 19 lives, they say.

But because tough anti-terror laws passed after the Bali blasts cannot be applied retroactively, he will likely be charged with illegal possession of explosives, Mbai said.

Even though that charge also carries a maximum penalty of death, there are concerns he might get off easy.

Indonesia, the nation with the most Muslims in the world, has been hit by a string of terrorist attacks blamed on Patek's regional militant group, Jemaah Islamiyah, but none as deadly as the Bali blasts.

A highly praised anti-terrorism campaign in the country of 240 million has seen hundreds of suspects arrested and convicted in recent years, but Patek is one of the biggest to have been captured alive.

His arrest in Abbottabad raised questions over whether he was there to meet bin Laden, something that would challenge theories that the al-Qaida chief was cut off from his followers.

U.S officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the issue, have said it appeared to be a coincidence.

But Mbai countered that Wednesday.

Several other militants - from Asia and Europe to the Middle East - also were arrested in the same region of northwest Pakistan at the time of Patek's arrest, he said.

They had gathered there in hopes of meeting bin Laden, but it was not clear if they'd succeeded or were planning a new terror strike.

"Patek was very valuable for the U.S.," Mbai said. "He helped lead authorities to bin Laden."

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Main Suspect in Deadly 2002 Bali Bombings Arrested in Pakistan

Fox News, Associated Press, March 29, 2011

Undated sketch of Bali bombing suspect Umar Patek. (AP)

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Intelligence sources say top Indonesian terror suspect Umar Patek has been arrested in Pakistan.

Patek is one of the main suspects in the 2002 Bali bombings that left 202 people dead.

Two officials speaking on condition that they not be named said Patek was taken into custody in Pakistan on March 2. One of the sources is an Indonesian security official, and the other is a Philippine intelligence official who cited information from U.S. counterparts.

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Official: CIA tipoff led to Pakistan arrest

Pakistan, Indonesia have a joint art exhibition

The Jakarta Post, Sun, 03/14/2010 3:53 PM

INDONESIA: More than 150 works of art by Pakistani and Indonesian artists will be displayed at an exhibition at the Pakistan Embassy that runs from March 16 to 22.

The works of prominent Pakistani artist Ayesha Khan can also be seen at the event, organized by the Pakistan Embassy in collaboration with members of the Pakistani community.

Ayesha Khan has been a professional artist for more than 23 years and is well versed in the use of water colors, oils, acrylics, pastels and graphic design.

Some of Ambassador Sanaullah's paintings will also be displayed at the exhibition.

Among the Indonesian artists, masterpieces of the past and present artists, including Irsam, Luthfi, Hidayat Ambon, Koempol, Pardolli Fadli, Very Apriyanto, Iton and Pugo Tujahjono, will be on display. - JP

Pakistan-Indonesia to explore tourism potential

Daily News Pakistan

KARACHI: Pakistani & Indonesian travel promoters can avail the enormous potential available between both countries to boost tourism.

The Director of Directorate of South & Central Asian Affairs Republic of Indonesia, Asruchin while speaking at the one on one meeting on the topic of “Exploring Indonesian Tourist Destination with Pakistani and Indonesian Travel Experts” held at Hotel Aryaduta, Jakarta recently, stated this.

Earlier, the Director Ministry of Tourism & Culture of Indonesia, Samsul Lusa in his address said that with tour packages, tourism events and services we can enhance the bilateral tourism sector.

Shangrilla Resort, near Skardu (Pakistan)

Related Article:

Indonesians present their cultural heritage to Pakistani friends