Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi - March 24, 2002

Nowruz Studies

Full text of the diary:

I was at home all day. Time passed by studying, including the history of Islam and the subjects of the letters of the Prophet (pbuh), the murder of Abu al-Husayn, the history of hisbah organizations in Islam, the personality of the judge's commentary, and the number of casualties in the battles of Ali (a.s.).  

At noon and night, some of the children came for lunch and dinner. The mourning is warm and thriving, and all the television and radio channels have devoted a part of their time to it.

The preliminary measures of the Arab summit in Beirut, the possibility of Arafat's visit, and the issues of Palestine and Israel are at the top of the news. After two days, the Americans have raised the issue of attacking Iraq again. [Geoff Hoon], the British Secretary of Defense, has officially declared that the United Kingdom has the right to initiate the use of nuclear weapons. They have become really brazen. It seems that they feel helpless on the scene of the campaign against terrorism. 

 George W. Bush has officially called on Arab leaders to support Amir Abdullah's plan and has asked Israel to allow Arafat to attend the summit. [U.S. Special Representative for Middle East Affairs] Anthony Zinni is actively working in the region to make the negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian security officials a success.

Some U.S. representatives have called for an investigation into Uzbekistan's laboratory and stockpile of microbial and chemical weapons, which have been left over from the Soviet era. It is said that the center is located on the island of [Vozrozhdnia] in Lake Aral.  At the same time, representatives of human rights organizations in Uzbekistan have gone to the United States to fight the dictatorship of Islam Karimov, and 11 political parties and groups in Kyrgyzstan have called on President Askar Aghayev to step down, blaming him for the police crackdown on the parties in the past few days, which has resulted in the death of five people and the wounding of 17. These moves are significant given the unprecedented cooperation of regional governments with the United States during the war in Afghanistan.

Opposition to the restrictions imposed by the U.S. Congress on the Internet is also significant. In Argentina, instability has risen with the sharp fall in the price of the peso.