In India's remote northern villages it feels as if little has changed. The communities remain forgotten and woefully undeveloped, with low literacy and abject poverty. Akash's mother found her son's mutilated body They are conditions that for decades have bred superstition and a deep-rooted belief in the occult. The village of Barha in the state of Uttar Pradesh is only a three-hour car drive from the capital Delhi. Yet here evil medieval practices have made their ugly presence known. Lured with sweets I was led by locals to a house that is kept under lock and key. They refuse to enter it. "They [the tantrics] play on people's fears and superstitions - it is crazy" S Raju Campaigning journalist Peering through the window bars you can see the eerie dark room inside, with peeling posters of Hindu gods adorning the walls and bundles of discarded bed clothes. In one corner is the evidence we had come to find: blood-splattered walls and stained bricks. It is the place where a little boy's life was ritually sacrificed. Those who tortured and killed Akash Singh did so in a depraved belief - that the boy's death would offer them a better life. "The woman who did this was crazed," the villagers say. "Akash was friends with all our children... We still cannot believe what happened here." Akash's distraught mother discovered her son's mutilated body. The family was told he was lured away with sweets and begged his captors to set him free. "First they cut out his tongue," his grandmother Harpyari told me. "Then they cut off his nose, then his ears. They chopped off his fingers. They killed him slowly." 'Profiting from fear' The woman who abducted Akash lived just a few doors away. She claimed to be suffering from terrible nightmares and visions. Those suspected of killing Akash Singh are in jail Those suspected of killing Akash Singh are in jail It was then she turned for guidance to a tantric, or holy man. It was under his instruction that she brutally sacrificed the boy - offering his blood and remains to the Hindu goddess of destruction. There are temples across India that are devoted to the goddess. Childless couples, the impoverished and sick visit to pray that she can cure them. Animal sacrifice is central to worship - but humans have not been temple victims since ancient times. We were met with a hostile reception at the temple in Meerut. The high priest did not want us to see the ritual slaughter. Tantrics like him clearly have an overwhelming grip on their followers. Often they are profiting from people's fears. In extreme cases others have instructed their followers to kill. Crackdown campaign S Raju is a journalist for the Hindustan Times and has been reporting on child sacrifice cases since 1997 in western Uttar Pradesh. He has reported on 38 similar cases. In one incident he says a tantric told a young man that if he hanged and killed a small boy and lit a fire at his feet the smoke from the ritual could be used to lure the pretty village girl he had his eye on. He has been campaigning for a crackdown on the practice of tantrics, alarmed at what he has seen. "The masses need to be educated and dissuaded from following these men," he said. "They play on people's fears and superstitions - it is crazy." Unreported We visited the jail where those accused of murdering Akash were being held. The prison warden told us of over 200 cases of child sacrifice in these parts over the last seven years. He admitted many of the cases go unreported because the police are reluctant to tarnish the image of their state. He told us incidents of child sacrifice are often covered up. Many of those killers are behind bars - but, chillingly, others poisoned by the same sinister beliefs remain at large. Source:bbc.com May Allah bless his soul!!!!

^^^^^^loooooooool I didn't say Somali..Iam talking about Mali, the counrty located in west Africa. web page

All Mali Music lovers( if there is any here in Sol), share any your fav artists...da oldies n newbies and any links to Mali Music. I like world music hour on Putumayo. Feautures Mali Songs. web page

This is hardly any benefit to this. Just imagine a pleasant occassion like wedding associated with what should be one of happiest events in your life. Lets hope they get help. Tolerating Faaraxs = Understandable Liking Faaraxs = plausible Loving Faaraxs = slightly worrisome Dying for Faaraxs = absolutely insane Wow....Just contempt for so many people , majortity of whom you obviously don't know or never met. Ladies, looks like some issues of your own or do you just enjoy using "Faaraxs" as punching bags.

Wildcat with friend strolling in da hot Somali desert. source: web page

Natural Resources Defence Forces of Sanaag..loooooool....Love name of dis new "resistance". Apparently, cadde hasn't learned anything from the last decade and half. I guess he confused Sanaag for Jubooyinka n Shabeela.

Originally posted by Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar: Sheydaanka meel Eebe keeno waa fadhiyaa. Waxaa la yiri, ninkii soo joog laga waayo, soo jiif aa laga helaa. Indhacadde pressure waa ku bilaabaty already, oo bambooyinka iyo wax kale ayaa ka qarxooyo in Marka. Bandoow kusoo rog ama wax kale keen, counting his days waa bilaabatay. Oppressed native people are finally fed up. Runtaa waaye MMA...His days in Markacadeey might be near. waxaan hada wadaad waaye ladhahaa..Gar iyo Cimaamad goormay wadaadnimo noqotay.This is criminal enterprise that needs to eridicated. This might come at great price to our people.

^^^Amiin Duke...Please remove da pic of dead man!!! Lets respect the departed!!!!

Wonder why he remains silent? What can he do? No Somali is rejoicing today regardless of Qabiil affliatation. This is truely sad day. Qof aan naxariis iyo damiir laheyn baa ku farxa masaakiinta la anaysa. P.S Why is your goverment silent?

^^^Whose meddling :confused: Solution....Well find her first...remove her from the current enviroment...new school and neighborhood. A new set of rules including curfews and expected improvement in school and behavior...if dat doesn't work...Then ship her wherever.

Originally posted by Tukaale: ^^ Send her back to Somalia that the optimum solution. quote: Figure wat wrong and deal with it. The problem is she wants partying, so contribute on the solution - how would you have dealt with it? Finding a solution to this particular situation seems trivial. I think Rudy wants just to vent. But in general, problems can be tackled by staying involved in your kid's life. No kid gets up one day and decides to run. It is problem long coming, and the parent should be attentive enough to realise it. A lot Somali parents in my end of the woods live in the Ghettos. A kid growing up in the Ghetto where schools are bad and whose parents aren't paying attention looses their creative momentum. This leads to lack of interest in studies and for dat matter anything that's progressive. Parents should realise that they have most influence on their kids. Only you could teach them right from wrong, and lead them to the right path. If kids do mess up. Identify the problems and deal with it. Don't dump at adeer's house in Somalia.

^^^^ What is she going to do there? You can't dump your problems onto someone else. Figure wat went wrong and deal with it.

Sheh....Ugly n beautiful indeed..I guess the entire subcontinent is land of extreme contrasts.The Taj Mahal is itself an example. a symbol of love but hardly anybody in this part of the world marries for love. Marriage itself can be a happy occasion yet very burdensome.On the surface, it looks to appealing to all foriegners. Scratch the surface a little, horrors begin to pour out. Blessed....Pakis are interesting bunch, and their devotion to the faith is very admirable even though like all traditional societies, the masses know little of the religion itself. Islam is very central to their identity and a unifying factor. It is what separates them from their cousins in India. Yet in so many ways, they are very much like their cousins, a feudal society with oppressed masses yet progressing forward. It is good to be foriegner in these nations though. You are to able to enjoy the beauty of the land and culture and not be subjugated to their customs.

Be constructive people...The idea is to help, not to put each other down!!!!! We are already aware of Somali Daisporo problems. now lets move from talking it to actually doing something about it.

Inexperience and Jaahilnimo leads leads our people into all sorts of troubles, and they are too arrogant to listen an advise. I Say forget da adults. n Worry about da kid. Kids need attention and caring heart. More importantly, they need role model who will guide them to the right place. As for the adults, hard times will teach them tough lessons. It is sad they have to go through, but that's life.

Sheh....Namaste Jee...Bharat bohot Khubsuurad hee...Can't wait to visit da place n see da remains of great Mughal empire...The Pakistani Siddi are called Makarani and usually inhabit balochistan and Sindhi provinces of pakistan. Blessed...I grew up in Pakistan. Great place to visit specially the northern areas towards Kashmir/Gilgit. People are usually kind and welcoming specially if you are Muslim but like all places, it has its good and bad!!!

Amid the brooding mountains on the borders of Baghlan province, Afghanistan's only female warlord clings to her remote fiefdom. But the years are catching up with Kaftar, "The Pigeon", as Bibi Ayesha is known, and the Afghan government and its international backers want her to hand in her guns. "My eyes have become misty," says Kaftar, complaining that she can no longer shoot straight. Kaftar has fought the Russians, the Taleban and many local rivals But she has lost none of the enthusiasm for violence that fed her reputation for cruelty during Afghanistan's wars. "I am still wishing for a fight," she said, dismissing any notion that women's roles in Afghan society would preclude front-line battle service. "It makes no difference if you are a man or a woman when you have the heart of a fighter." Her only concession to social mores is that she insists that a male relative accompany her into battle, in line with Afghan tradition for women outside the home. Disarming 'the Pigeon' At the end of a bone-juddering two-hour drive up a river bed from the nearest settlement, Kaftar's fortified house clings to the steep valley wall. Inside the 55-year-old sat flanked by her four surviving sons; tough looking men who are her loyal lieutenants. Two others have been killed in battle. She has fought the Taleban, the Russians and many a local rival in the mountains of Narin district, which is dotted with the wrecks of old Soviet and Taleban tanks. She claims to have 150 men under her command, while the UN estimates that she has weapons for at least 50. Now the officials of the UN Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups programme (DIAG) say they are hoping to begin disarming her in the coming months. Like many of the estimated 2,000 illegal armed groups in Afghanistan that are still resisting the call to disarm, Kaftar is unlikely to give up her weapons easily. She insisted she has already given away all her guns, apart, she added, from the Russian Makarov pistol that hung in her shoulder holster. Old abandoned tanks are witness to power struggles in the area She said she was particularly upset about giving up an ancient British Lee-Enfield rifle in a previous disarmament drive. It was the weapon of choice across the region before the arrival of the ubiquitous Kalashnikov. The DIAG inspectors are sceptical. Many a commander has attempted to fob off the disarmament campaign with ancient or unserviceable arms, whilst hiding their stocks of up-to-date munitions. The home of one supposedly disarmed commander in Baghlan disappeared in a massive explosion last year, taking much of the surrounding village with it. A stock of unstable ammunition hidden under the house was the cause. "Zar, zan, zamin" While the neon lights, internet cafes and mobile phone shops in Kabul point to a rush towards modernity in Afghanistan's cities, in remote rural Afghanistan the old feudal order persists; an often violent culture of blood feud and local justice where the reach of central government is weak or non-existent. "Zar, zan, zamin" - gold, women, land - in the words of the old Afghan proverb provide the motivation for the violence that underpins local life. "People get killed over little things, water and land," said Kaftar with a shrug. On the way up to her house we asked a local man if Kaftar was at home. Mr Alam, a former commander, who disarmed last year "She's up there alright," he replied darkly. It transpired that the man's brother had been killed by one of Kaftar's sons and the feud was unresolved. "Once you give away your guns people don't care about you anymore," said Qari Alam, 50, who used to have command of a number of bands in the Northern Alliance that fought the Taleban, including that led by Kaftar. He voluntarily handed in his weapons, including a number of tanks, a year ago and now helps to negotiate between the government and the many still armed commanders in the region. "The commanders are afraid to disarm because they have so many enemies," he said, "and many people fear the return of the Taleban. Kaftar was a cruel commander. She has a great many enemies." Bandits prey upon travellers in the area. The most notorious, Abdul "Awal" (Abdul "Number one") is a second generation brigand; his uncle was caught and had his arm and leg cut off by a local commander as a warning to others. But Abdul continues to ply the family trade regardless. Kaftar says she has no fear of him. "The bandits are afraid of her and her sons, not the other way round," said Qari Alam.

muslims in general are prone to violence Thats racist!!! All major conflicts of the last five hundred years was instigated by the Christain European Countries. Some of these conflicts were specifically carried out in the name of Christianity starting with Spanish conquest of the new world to the holocoust. N you say we are prone to violence.

the future is bleak N why is dat bro. Walaal, we should move from all useless ranting to actually do something. The warlords deserve a praise for there are men who will do anything to get what they want. The masses whether Here or in Somalia just complain. Saaxib....My guess is that you just want things handed to you. You gotta work for it.

Xarago.....Give General Duke a break....Blind loyalty whether to Qabiil or country is in all Maryooley....It is just dat some of us are more devoted than others. Duke....I wish all da best for Somalia. I just don't think Yeey could deliver anything.

we know the problems, what do you think are the solutions, and what are you doing to better Somalia?

Originally posted by Kashanre: "alxamdu shukran anagu waxaan ka mahad celinaynaa waxaas moryaantaahoo meesha yimid yagoo dhibaata na gaarsiin inay na dhaafeen" Classic.loooooooooooool Seems like Xarago is enjoying this news a bit too much. Duke......You gotta admit your adeer has failed meserable even though this Dheere character is moron to say least. Least see how long Yeey can hang out in Bay.

Arguments with no real resolutions have no merit. I think we maryooley never seek any outcomes in our discussions, just useless endless yapping. This topic is proof of dat.People put time to some good use.

Ahura...Do get together and think how you might help our sistas back home. Could be good initiative, a rewarding one I might add.

This is good initiative. Lets also think of tomorow and how we will with never-ending droughts and conflicts. Off topic.....Is anybody familiar with micro-finance, and how succesful can micro-finance be in lifting the masses out of poverty. Here is link to micro-finance org web page