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Dear colleague,

Please find attached this week’s News Summary. The weekly summary is intended to provide background information
to topical news stories and issues that may resonate in communities. The weekly summary also includes links to
interesting news articles that people may wish to circulate further.

This week’s summary includes:

 Attacks intensify in Pakistan as flooding continues to affect millions

 Plans to burn the Quran on 9/11 anniversary are on hold

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Laura

Laura Dobson

Communications Adviser
RICU (Research, Information and Communications Unit)
Office for Security and Counter Terrorism
Home Office, 2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF

Tel: 0207 035 0478

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Weekly News Summary
Friday 10th September 2010
Key Issues
Attacks in Pakistan intensify as flooding continues to affect millions
This week has brought fresh flooding to southern Pakistan. International Development Secretary
Andrew Mitchell said in a statement to the House of Commons this week that the magnitude of damage
caused by flooding in Pakistan is almost impossible to describe, and announced that the UK will this week
intensify efforts in south Pakistan to help avert the risk of a public health crisis. In an Eid message, Prime
Minister David Cameron praised the UK public for their generous response to the floods.

There have been a number of suicide car bombings in north-west Pakistan over the past week. Pakistan’s
President Asif Ali Zardari warned that Pakistan’s survival was under threat from both extremists and the
flooding. Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the Pakistani government's resolve to eliminate
terrorism from the country could not be shaken through such cowardly acts.

In an interview with ITV News at 10 Foreign Secretary William Hague warned that extremists could move
to fill the vacuum if more is not done to help the victims of the floods, and urged the international
community to do more, saying: “It is in their vital interest as well that Pakistan is a stable society and a
more successful economy than it has been in recent years.”

Key Points
The monsoon floods in Pakistan have affected twenty one million people (twelve million critically)
and more than 1.8 million houses have been destroyed or damaged.
This week the UK Government will intensify efforts in southern Pakistan by:
 providing three more aid flights bringing vital water and sanitation items for the south
Pakistan;
 setting up emergency production lines in Karachi and Lahore producing thousands of
water containers and hygiene items every day for two weeks; and
 helping to establish an emergency field camp near Sukkur, in the worst affected area.
The UK Government has now committed £64 million to help people in Pakistan affected by the
floods. This is helping millions of people access safe drinking water, toilets, emergency shelter,
health care, and other essentials. A summary of the UK Government’s contributions to date can be
viewed on the DFID website.
The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) appeal has now raised £47 million. To make a
donation to the DEC Pakistan Floods Appeal you can call the 24 hour hotline on 0370 60 60 900,
visit http://www.dec.org.uk, donate over the counter at any post office or high street bank, you can
also donate £5 by texting the word GIVE to 70707.
The Charity Commission, has published advice for people who want to support those affected by
the floods in Pakistan, whether by fundraising or by making a personal donation.
The UK will continue to stand by Pakistan, and continue helping its people affected by the floods in
any way it can, both at this critical life-saving time and longer term as work begins to rebuild the
country.
Associated articles: BBC News - Latest Pakistan floods prompt fresh exodus from towns
DFID - Mitchell: Extraordinary UKaid response for flood stricken Punjab and Sindh

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Plans to burn the Quran on 9/11 anniversary are on hold
Following widespread condemnation from around the world, the pastor of a small church in Florida has said
that their plans to burn copies of the Quran on the anniversary of 9/11 are now on hold, according to media
reports. Pastor Jones initially said the burning had been cancelled, but then said it was only suspended
because he was "lied to" over a deal to move an Islamic centre which is due to be built near Ground Zero.

On Thursday, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said:

"We would strongly oppose any attempt to offend any member of any religious or ethnic group. We are
committed to religious tolerance."

Foreign Secretary William Hague said:

“The burning of the Quran would be offensive not just to Muslims but to all supporters of religious
freedom and tolerance worldwide. Eid is a time of celebration, charitable giving and family gathering. To
seek to mar it in this calculated way would be selfish and provocative in the extreme. We hope that the
individuals involved will reconsider and refrain from carrying out this act. This is of course a matter for the
US authorities and we are in full agreement with the US administration's reaction.”

US President Barack Obama warned that if the burning went ahead it could endanger US military
personnel serving in Pakistan and Afghanistan. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said: "I am
heartened by the clear, unequivocal condemnation of this disrespectful, disgraceful act that has come from
American religious leaders of all faiths.”

On Wednesday, the Vatican issued a statement describing the plans as “outrageous and grave”, and on
Thursday the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams issued a message to mark the end of Ramadan,
saying: “the threat to desecrate scriptures is deeply deplorable and to be strongly condemned by all people.
These are challenges that we must respond to with a consistent message: that we oppose collectively all
such provocations and insist that there is no place in our traditions for violent response.”

Associated articles: BBC News - Downing Street condemns Quran burning plan
The Independent - White House warns Florida church not to burn Quran
BBC News - US Koran burning event on hold, says pastor Terry Jones

Other News Stories from this Week

The following are interesting news items that we think people may want to circulate further:

New York Times – Building on faith

Writing in the New York Times, Feisul Abdul Rauf, Imam of the Farah Mosque in Lower Manhattan and
Chairman of the Cordoba Initiative, the group behind the plans for an Islamic centre near the site of the
9/11 attacks, explains that the initiative is intended to “cultivate understanding among all religions and
cultures”.

Associated Press of Pakistan – British Muslims visit Afghanistan

A delegation of British Muslims recently visited Afghanistan to challenge misconceptions about the reality of
life for Muslims in Britain and to learn how the UK Government is contributing to the international effort to
stabilise Afghanistan. The delegation went as part of the Projecting British Muslims project, which is part of
a process of developing and building relationships between Afghans and Britons.

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