Afghan pilgrims kill transport minister DUBAI (Reuters) - Afghan Muslim pilgrims, angry over plane delays, have attacked and killed Afghanistan's interim transport minister at Kabul airport, Arabic-language al-Jazeera television has reported. It quoted its reporter in the Afghan capital as saying Air Transport and Tourism Minister Abdul Rahman had gone to the airport to leave on a trip abroad when he was attacked on Thursday by a large number of disgruntled pilgrims awaiting flights to Saudi Arabia. There was no immediate confirmation of the report by Afghan officials. Foreign journalists were unable to go to the airport to check on reports of a disturbance there because of a curfew. More than 5,000 Afghans planning to leave for the annual haj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia have been told that foreign aircraft are being leased for the trip as Afghanistan's Ariana airline has only one functioning plane, Afghan-based reporters said. Saudi officials have said pilgrims coming from abroad must arrive by Sunday to be able to perform haj, one of Islam's five pillars. (obviously murder is not one of them ... -rH) --
I'm sure that murder was perfectly justifiable under their interpretation of Islam . I guess they think their still going to make the pilgrimage. They should be rounded up and put in prison for a long time if this is true.
I am not the government, so it's of little consequence... I am not the arbitrer of any theological viewpoints beyond my own... I know that what I'm about to say will sound very ignorant and close-minded...but I'll say it anyway. This religion, from a global perspective, frightens me. These people were on a pilgrimage to Mecca, for heaven's sake!!!
This religion has been the most peaceful in the world until a select group of people turned it inside out. I wouldn't be afraid of it. I would be afraid of the people using it.
Kind of like the Spanish Inquisition, or the Roman Catholic church in times of old. Absolute power corrupts absolutly. DaDakota
DaDakota -- agreed..I do see parallels to pre-reformation Christianity...like the fact the islamic leaders are the ones who do the interpreting for the people in many of those countries (similar to how church leaders were able to convince people Christ wanted them to spill blood in His name during the Crusades.) it scares me in the same way cultic groups that profess Christianity in some vague form (like Davidians, for example) scare me. Except it scares me a bit more because these jackasses are targeting me and my country!! Plus, I think sheer numbers of people who subscribe to these sorts of ideas within Islam is a lot higher than groups like Davidians, etc. Jeff seems to think a lot of that has to do with poverty...I would tend to agree...I still don't think that excuses it..nor does it make me more comfortable.
BREAKING NEWS Official's death was a conspiracy, Karzai says Associated Press KABUL, Afghanistan -- Interim leader Hamid Karzai said today that several high government officials motivated by a blood feud were responsible for the killing of the country's aviation minister. He called for their arrests. At least two of the officials are generals, and others are members of the intelligence service and the justice ministry, said Karzai's information minister, Abdul Rahim Makhdoom. Three had left for Saudi Arabia, he said. The aviation and tourism minister, Abdul Rahman, was killed Thursday in what appeared to be a mob attack on his plane at Kabul's airport by pilgrims angry that they had been unable to travel to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Witnesses at the airport said Rahman was killed by pilgrims. Karzai, however, said the attack "has nothing to do with hajjis" or those making the pilgrimage. "He was killed by people who planned it," Karzai told reporters at a hastily called news conference. "We are asking the Saudis to arrest them and bring them back. ... We will try them. We will put them behind bars." Before Karzai spoke, Makhdoom gave journalists five names of men he said were wanted in connection with the attack on Rahman. Three of the five were believed to have left on flights for Saudi Arabia along with pilgrims traveling there, the information minister said. The wanted men include Gen. Abdullah Jan Tawhidi, in charge of Afghanistan's intelligence service department, and Gen. Kalandar Beg, a deputy in the defense ministry. Karzai suggested that the killing was linked to a blood feud dating back to the struggle against the Taliban. All the five he named were part of a faction of the northern alliance with which Rahman had broken. "All this ... goes back to the days of the resistance," Karzai said, without giving any details. "We are trying to do justice."
Why is it that whenever a muslim kills someone and needs to get the hell out of Dodge, Saudi Arabia is usually the destination? They've been letting returning Al Qaeda just pass right on through customs, and now this...
Makhdoom? How can anyone with a name like that not be guilty? As for their trip to Saudi Arabia, I assumed they were making the haj like everyone else.
I'm aware of what the haj is, Juan. How convenient that these guys are deciding to go on the haj right now. And how convenient that so many Al Qaeda members have decided to make the haj right now, too... I guess Saudi's policy is : We don't care who you've killed, if you're making the haj, then come on in...
treeman, I didn't mean to intimate that you didn't know what a haj was; I'm sorry if it came off like that. It's just that the article wasn't clear on why those guys went to Saudi Arabia -- whether specifically to flee or to perform the haj -- but rather let people assume they fled. I just wanted to point out that it may have been the haj. Btw, can someone clarify why pilgrims must be in Saudi Arabia by Sunday? Is the haj a time-sensitive deal? On another subject, Karzai says they were settling old scores; what is Karzai's history with the men he's accused? Could he be trying to settle old scores? I wonder.
It is done during the first few days of the 12th month of the Islamic Calender. Since the Islamic calender is based on the moon it goes back about 10 days each year. The second holiday of Muslims where we sacrifice animals happens on the 10th of the 12th month, Dhul Hijjah. Tree read up on your stuff man. There are American agencies scanning people in Saudi who are coming for Hajj as of NOW. Plus getting a visa to Hajj is a pain in the ass. Infact its a lot easier to go if you have an American passport than any other passport from a "Muslim" country.
boy: Yes, I know - they just got there. Of course it took the Saudis two months to agree to it... Just long enough for everyone to get the hell out of Afghanistan. How convenient. Do you know why there are Americans checking there now? Because for the past 5 months, when some strapping young Saudi man got off a plane with a passport claiming that he was returning from Afghanistan, he was never even questioned. Not even a simple "Are you a member of any terrorist organization, sir? So, you're not a member of The Base, then, sir? What were you doing in Afghanistan, sir? OK, thank you, and welcome home, sir..." Let's just say that Saudi customs officials haven't been too alert.
Maybe that can become the Bush Corollary to the Mid East Doctrine? Your arrogance is truly mind boggling.
