Afghans Living In Dystopian Nightmare Sandwiched Between Taliban, Islamic State Khorasan: Expert
New Age Islam News Bureau
23 April 2022
Representative Image
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• Communal Amity: Nashik Holy Cross Church Opens Doors
For Muslims To Offer Namaz After Iftar
• Petition Filed In Pakistan Against Dutch Politician
Geert Wilders For Blasphemy
• In Run-Up To Election, French Politics Has
Normalized Anti-Muslim Sentiment: Experts
• 150,000 Palestinians Attend Friday Prayers Al-Aqsa
Mosque, Defying Restrictions
South Asia
• At Least 33 Killed In A Bombing At A Mosque And
Religious School In Kunduz Afghanistan,
During Friday Prayers
• Taliban Arrests Suspected ISIS
"Mastermind" Of Afghan Mosque Attack
• US envoy, Abdullah Abdullah Discuss Reopening Girls’
Schools in Afghanistan
• UN Condemns Kunduz Blast, Calls for Accountability
for Crimes Perpetrated
• Afghan Taliban leader hopes Shehbaz's election as PM
will cement bilateral ties
• Militants in Afghanistan strike Pakistan army post,
kill 3
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India
• Communal Amity: Nashik Holy Cross Church Opens Doors
For Muslims To Offer Namaz After Iftar
• Army Veterans Move Supreme Court On Genocide Calls
Against Muslims; Such Hate Mongering Could Affect The Morale Of The Indian Army
• Supreme Court Rapped Delhi Police For Claiming That
No Calls For Genocide Against Muslims Had Been Sounded At A Hindu Yuva Vahini
Event
• Shahi Idgah Of Mathura Removes Loudspeaker After
Krishna Janmasthan Does
• Muslim Cleric , Maulana Sajid Rashidi, Backs Tauqir Raza’s Remark On PM Modi,
Questions ‘To What Extent Can A Community Tolerate Violence’
• Religious Harmony: President Of The Kumarthupadi
Devi Temple Has Been Observing The Ramadan Fast For 21 Years
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Pakistan
• Trends Against Institutions See ‘Organic Decline’ As
Imran Softens Tone
• Imran Khan’s terror policy backfires as Pak grapples
with terrorism
• 3 soldiers martyred in N. Waziristan during gun
battle with terrorists from Afghanistan: ISPR
• Judges’ decisions should benefit nation, observes
CJP
• Army officer martyred in gunfight with terrorists in
Balochistan's Awaran: ISPR
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Europe
• Kids cook while fasting to raise money during
Ramadan for UK mental health charity
• Levant Scholars’ Union condemns burning copies of
the Holy Qur’an by extremists in Sweden
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Mideast
• Senior Cleric: Iran Merely Accepts Removal of All
Sanctions
• Hamas makes demands of Israel to prevent escalation
in Gaza
• Iran Voices Concern over Repeated Terrorist Attacks
in Afghanistan
• Israel closes Erez Crossing from Gaza strip after
rocket attacks: Ministry
• Two rockets fired from Gaza at Israel: Army
• Israeli forces use drone to drop tear gas on
Palestinian worshipers in al-Aqsa
• Gunmen kill bodyguard of Iran Guards general: state media
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Southeast Asia
• End ‘Unfair And Unreasonable’ Treatment Of Rohingya,
Says Najib
• UN Refugee Agency ‘Shocked’ At Rohingya Deaths In Malaysia
Escape
• Pact with Bersatu, PAS will diminish PH
• Singapore to execute another Malaysian next Friday
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Arab World
• Saudi Family Charred To Death After Relative Sets
Fire To Their House
• Syria Denies Contact With Turkey On Rebuilding Ties,
Calls Reports 'Fabricated'
• Sudden exchange rate turmoil angers Lebanese ahead
of parliamentary elections
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Africa
• Jordan King Urges Unity To Stop Escalations In Jerusalem
During Arab League Meeting
• Qaeda-linked group attacks Somali parliament with
mortars as MPs meet
• Tunisia president decrees he will name electoral
chief
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North America
• US 'Welcomes' NSC Statement Saying No 'Foreign
Conspiracy' To Oust Imran
• US official urges Iraqi parties to expedite
government formation
• White House briefing emphasizes commitment to race
equity, including for Arab Americans
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL:
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Afghans living in dystopian nightmare sandwiched
between Taliban, Islamic State Khorasan: Expert
Representative Image
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ANI
23 April, 2022
Islamabad [Pakistan], April 23 (ANI): Dr Sajjan Gohel,
International Security Director of the Asia-Pacific Foundation, said that the
Afghans are living in a very dystopian nightmare as they are sandwiched between
the misogynistic Taliban and the Islamic State-Khorasan Province (ISKP), an
affiliate of the IS in Iraq and Syria.
Replying to the new violence in Afghanistan that
erupted last week in an interview with ABC News, Gohel said, “Anyone getting
educated is their target. Boys or Girls. These are some of the most horrific
attacks on school children over the last few years. There is nothing new other
than that it has brought further misery to the Afghan people who are living in
a very dystopian nightmare. They are sandwiched between the misogynistic
Taliban and on the other hand the ISKP.”
“These attacks seem to be coordinated. It seems to be
a part of a strategy, ostensibly, by the so-called Islamic State Khorasan
Province (ISKP), the terrorist outfit which is affiliated to ISIS in Iraq and
Syria,” he added.
He further noted that this group consists primarily of
Afghans and Pakistanis, who may be carrying out attacks similar to what we have
seen with ISIS in Syria and Iraq.
“They are very much indigenous movements that are
ideologically similar to the Taliban even though on the surface they may claim
to be an enemy of the Taliban,” he said in his interview.
Commenting on the ISIS claiming responsibility for the
blasts in Afghanistan and not blast in boy schools, Gohel said, “It is likely
that they will take responsibility for that blast as well as they target anyone
getting an education.”
Notably, Afghanistan has been rocked by a new wave of
violence after the Taliban regained control of the country. Dozens of people
have been killed overnight in two attacks carried out by the Islamic State
group. Days after at least six people were killed by a bomb blast at a boy’s
school in the capital city of Kabul. Eight months after the Taliban reclaimed
Afghanistan, there’s been increased violence and a resurgence of extremist
groups. (ANI)
Source: The Print
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original story:
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Communal Amity: Nashik Holy Cross Church Opens Doors
For Muslims To Offer Namaz After Iftar
People offer Namaz at the Holy Cross Church in Nashik
on Friday
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Apr 23, 2022
Nashik: The Holy Cross Church in city allowed Muslims
to offer Namaz on its premises, setting an example of communal amity.
The priest of the church, Fr Vincy D’Mello, said the
place of worship had organised an Iftar party on Wednesday evening, inviting
people from all faiths. About 20-25 Muslim invitees had requested for a room to
offer Namaz. Father Vincy D’Mello instead requested them to offer Namaz in the
church itself.
Ajmal Khan, secretary of Aims Charitable Trust, said,
“After the Iftar party, we had to offer the 7pm Namaz. Since we would have
gotten late to reach the mosque, we asked the Father for a spare room so that
we could offer Namaz.”
He said, “Priest D’Mello instead asked us to perform
the Namaz in the church itself in the direction where there was no deity.”
People from various faiths had come to the Iftar organised
in the church. Ajmal Khan said, “We wanted to show everyone that we are all
united and humanity comes first.”
Source: Times Of India
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original story:
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Petition Filed
In Pakistan Against Dutch Politician Geert Wilders For Blasphemy
Petition
filed in Pakistan against Dutch politician Geert Wilders (Photo Credit:
Reuters)
-----
23
April, 2022
Islamabad
[Pakistan], April 23 (ANI): A Petition has been filed in the Islamabad High
Court seeking global action against Dutch politician Geert Wilders, known for
his anti-Islam views, for blasphemy.
The
petition states that Geert Wilders’s blasphemous act has hurt the feelings of
more than one and a half billion Muslims, therefore the Dutch ambassador should
be summoned and a strong protest should be recorded against Geert Wilders
blasphemous act, reported Daily Jasarat.
The
petition seeks an order from the government of Pakistan to demand action from
the Dutch government against Geert Welder, order the government to raise such
incidents of blasphemy in international forums and Geert Welder’s Twitter
account should be immediately blocked in Pakistan.
Foreign
Secretary, Director General of Federal Investigation Agency (DG FIA), PTI and
Secretary IT were made parties in the petition while the petition was filed by
one Hafiz Ehtesham, as per Pakistan daily.
Earlier
in 2018, Wilders announced plans for a cartoon contest to depict Prophet
Muhammad. The news stirred anger and grief among Muslims throughout the world
as the physical depiction of the Prophet Muhammad is considered offensive and
insulting to the followers of Islam.
The
cartoon contest also sparked protests in Muslim-majority Pakistan, where
blasphemy is an extremely charged issue, often leading to mob violence
incidents, including the killing of those accused of blasphemy, reported Voice
of America.
The
mixing of state and religion in Pakistan has provided a dangerous cocktail for
Pakistan’s population and the blasphemy laws are taking their toll on the
people of Pakistan.
In
a recent incident, a woman teacher at a girls’ seminary in Dera Ismail Khan was
killed by three of her female colleagues after the relative of one of the
killers had a dream that the teacher had committed blasphemy after which the
killers were ordered to slaughter her.
The
victim, Safoora Bibi, 21, was killed by three of her students at Jamia Islamia
Falah Al-Banat, situated in the Anjumabad area on Dera Multan Road, at around 7
am. The students accused of carrying out the fatal attack have been arrested.
According
to the FIR (First Information Report) filed by the local police, the three
girls, Umra Aman, 24, daughter of Deen Badshah and Razia Hanifia, 21, and Aisha
Noman, 17, daughters of Allah Noor, allegedly stabbed Safoora Bibi in the neck,
killing her.
The
FIR stated that Safoora Bibi had just gotten off a rickshaw and entered the
madrassa gate when she was attacked by the three students and died on the spot.
Human
Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) stated that the actions of the three
seminary students were both “frightening and incomprehensible”. HRCP expressed
concern over the cold-blooded murder of Safoora Bibi in Khyber Pakhtunkhawa
Province.
Its
statement read, “The HRCP is horrified by the cold-blooded murder of a woman by
three female seminary colleagues in DI Khan on allegations of blasphemy. That
the accused claim their allegations and subsequent actions were based on a
13-year old girl’s ‘dream’ is both frightening and incomprehensible”. (ANI)
Source: The Print
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In
Run-Up To Election, French Politics Has Normalized Anti-Muslim Sentiment: Experts
Polls suggest that Emmanuel Macron will narrowly
secure a second term against the far right’s Marine Le Pen. (AFP)
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April
22, 2022
LONDON:
French politics has normalized anti-Muslim sentiment as the country’s Muslim
population finds itself de-platformed in the run-up to Sunday’s presidential
election.
Polls
suggest that Emmanuel Macron will narrowly secure a second term against the far
right’s Marine Le Pen.
But
for the domestic Muslim population, a vote for Macron will be a pragmatic one
rather than a vote for hope, with the incumbent seen as the lesser of two
evils.
Jocelyne
Cesari, visiting professor of religion, violence and peacebuilding at Harvard
Divinity School, told Arab News that while anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant talk
is nothing new, with “this idea that France would be Muslim within 20 years”
having been peppered around since the turn of the century, what is new is that
the discourse has become “central.”
She
said: “The rhetoric has moved from the margins to the center. But more than
this, when it comes to the legitimacy of Islam, the left is also very much on
its case. They’re pro-immigration, but women wearing the hijab and the
legitimacy of halal meat … this change in the past 20 years is very, very
worrisome.
“Worse
still, on some issues it’s very hard to see any difference between Macron and
Le Pen, especially on the visibility of Muslims. Some of Macron’s ministers
have been even more excessive than she has on this matter.”
Last
year, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin caught Le Pen off guard, describing her
as weak on Islam.
Dr.
Paul Smith, associate professor and section lead in French and Francophone
studies, modern languages and cultures at the University of Nottingham, agrees
that anti-Muslim rhetoric has become “normalized,” although he believes there
is some nuance to Darmanin’s comment.
“Darmanin
cut his teeth under (former President Nicolas) Sarkozy,” Smith told Arab News.
“Sarkozy was hard, but he was also trying to create a framework for Islam to
exist happily in France.
“I
believe Darmanin’s comment was intended to suggest that Le Pen talks the talk
but doesn’t walk the walk. In this election though, she hasn’t had to as
(candidate Eric) Zemmour has been out there saying it all for her. Next to
Zemmour she looks like she’s organizing a Sunday school outing. Her
anti-Islamic views have been more oblique — that doesn’t mean she’s changed her
program. Should she win, she’ll seek to enforce a version of French identity
that’s very much Catholic Christianity.”
Smith
believes French Muslims could be key players in the election’s outcome, noting
that their first-round vote, particularly in the city of Marseille, went to
left-wing candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon.
Be
that as it may, French lawyer and doctoral candidate Maitre Rajnish Karim
Laouini said a major stumbling block for galvanizing the Muslim vote has been
that while Muslims remain the subject of political discussion, they themselves
are excluded from it.
“In
most cases, Muslims are excluded from debates that affect them,” Laouini told
Arab News. “When they aren’t excluded, those who participate aren’t seen as
people who bring their voices. Their interventions are perceived as
counter-productive or reinforcing the discredit that’s already brought upon
them.
“Excluding
Muslims who are able to bring voices from the debate only creates a climate of
suspicion among some Muslims, who end up thinking France would rather see them
as a problem than part of the solution.”
Cesari
takes the point further, suggesting that French Muslims have not been de-platformed.
“Rather, it’s just the case that they simply aren’t there,” she said.
“The
French and Germans share this in Europe — they have the least presence of
Muslims in any political or public structures. There’s been no political
integration, and this can’t be put down to education. We know this isn’t true —
we have in some instances fourth, fifth-generation Muslim families.
“We’re
just behind. Look at the UK — this week it appointed its first hijab-wearing
criminal barrister to the Queen’s Counsel. There, they have Muslims in high
office.”
Cesari,
Laouini and Smith all share substantive concerns should Le Pen pull off an
upset during Sunday’s vote.
Laouini
said should she do it, France would “take the risk of becoming the first
Western democracy to ban the hijab in public spaces,” which Cesari said amounts
to the erosion of democracy “as an impediment to religious freedom.” That this
is only being mobilized against Muslims leaves her equally as concerned.
However,
Smith said there remains a lot of uncertainties. Under the French system, the
public first elect a president before going to the polls in June to elect the
legislature.
Should
Le Pen win the presidential election but lose the general election — “her
victory could create a wave of opposition” — she would be a lame-duck
president.
This,
he said, could lead to violence from the far right, who tried to stir up
violence during the first lockdowns with claims of “no-go zones” patrolled by
Muslims — “for their part, French Muslims behaved impeccably, not responding to
provocations.” He added: “We’re in unchartered waters if she wins.”
Source: Arab News
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2068681/world
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150,000
Palestinians Attend Friday Prayers Al-Aqsa Mosque, Defying Restrictions
Ramadan represents a rare opportunity for some
Palestinians from the occupied West Bank to travel to pray at Al-Aqsa [Al
Jazeera]
-----
23
April 2022
At
least 150,000 Palestinians have thronged al-Aqsa Mosque in the occupied Old
City of al-Quds to attend Friday prayers amid heightened tensions over Israeli
raids.
Officials
from the Islamic Waqf department, which is in charge of the al-Aqsa Mosque,
said about 150,000 people, mostly Palestinians from the al-Quds, the West Bank,
and the Israeli occupied territories, offered prayers at the mosque compound
defying restrictions imposed on the entry of worshipers to the holy site.
Palestine's
official Wafa news agency said Israeli occupation forces barricaded multiple
roads and alleys leading to the Old City of al-Quds, forcing Palestinians to
take longer routes to reach the mosque.
Israeli
forces also deployed large numbers of troops at the gates leading to the holy
site, inspecting the identity cards of worshipers and subjecting them to body
frisking.
The
news agency said thousands of Palestinians prayed at Israeli checkpoints
leading to the Old City of al-Quds from the occupied West Bank after being
blocked from entering the holy city.
Earlier
in the day, Israeli forces raided the mosque after dawn prayers and fired
rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas at the Palestinian worshipers
at the Dome of the Rock inside the compound.
Wafa
cited the Palestinian Red Crescent as saying that at least 31 worshipers were
injured in the gruesome attack while many others suffered suffocation from tear
gas inhalation.
It
said two of the injured people were critical, while 11 others had been
transferred to the hospital.
Tensions
between the two sides have witnessed a sharp rise since the beginning of
Ramadan, with Israeli forces stepping up raids of al-Aqsa Mosque, assaulting
Muslim worshipers inside prayer halls, and providing protection to the Israeli
settlers desecrating Islam’s third holiest site.
The
Israeli regime’s crimes have sparked widespread condemnation from Muslim
countries as well as warnings for an outbreak of a new war with Gaza.
UN
seeks probe into Israel’s use of force at al-Aqsa
The
United Nations has expressed deep concern over the worsening security situation
in the occupied Palestinian territories following a spate of deadly Israeli
raids on the al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
“We
are deeply concerned by the escalating violence in the occupied Palestinian
territories and Israel over the past month,” Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for
the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said Friday.
“The
use of force by Israeli forces resulting in widespread injuries among
worshippers and staff in and around the al-Aqsa Mosque compound must be
promptly, impartially, independently, and transparently investigated,” she
noted.
Shamdasani
asserted that those responsible for any violations should be “held to account”,
and that policies and procedures on the use of force be “reviewed with a view
to avoid any further violations”.
Meanwhile,
in a statement issued on Friday, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas said
all Palestinians must mobilize to confront the Israeli occupation and colonial
settlers and to head to the al-Aqsa Mosque in the occupied Old City of al-Quds
despite intensified Israeli assaults.
The
movement said the Palestinian people should stay at the mosque throughout the
last ten days of the holy month of Ramadan to defend al-Quds, the mosque, and
the Palestinian worshipers there.
In
May last year, frequent acts of violence against Palestinian worshipers at
al-Aqsa Mosque led to an 11-day war between Palestinian resistance groups in
the besieged Gaza Strip and the Israeli regime, during which the regime forces
killed at least 260 Palestinians, including 66 children.
Source:
Press TV
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South Asia
At Least 33 Killed In A Bombing At A Mosque And Religious School In Kunduz Afghanistan, During Friday Prayers
23.04.22
At
least 33 citizens, including many students, were killed in a bombing at a
mosque and religious school in the Imam Saheb town of the Kunduz province in
northern Afghanistan on Friday, the Associated Press reported.
The
bombing that took place during the Friday prayers, also injured 43 devotees,
according to Zabihullah Mujahid, the deputy culture and information minister of
the Taliban administration in Afghanistan.
The
blast took place just a day after a series of bombings in Afghanistan, that
killed at least 15 citizens, including 12 who died in the blast at a Shiite
mosque in the city of Mazar-e-Sharif. Afghanistan’s Islamic State affiliate
known as Islamic State in Khorasan Province, or IS-K, had claimed
responsibility for Thursday’s blasts.
The
Shiite community, which is a religious minority in Afghanistan, is frequently
targeted by Sunni militant groups, including the Islamic State.
Friday’s
explosion was among the biggest attacks since the Taliban assumed power in
Afghanistan in August. It was not clear how the bomb was detonated, an
intelligence official told AFP on conditions of anonymity.
“The
sight at the mosque was horrifying,” said Mohammad Esah, a shopkeeper told the
news agency. “All those who were worshipping inside the mosque were either
injured or killed.”
About
a dozen ambulances took the wounded to the provincial hospital in Kunduz city.
UN
secretary general’s Deputy Special Representative to Afghanistan, Ramiz
Alakbarov, condemned the attacks on Friday, asking for perpetrators to be
brought to justice.
“The
indiscriminate use of improvised explosive devices, which has already caused
more than 100 civilian casualties this week, is unacceptable and must cease
immediately,” Alakbarov said on Friday.
Source:
Scroll
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Taliban
Arrests Suspected ISIS "Mastermind" Of Afghan Mosque Attack
April
22, 2022
Kabul:
Taliban forces have arrested a suspected ISIS militant who planned a bomb
attack that killed at least 12 worshippers at a Shiite mosque in Afghanistan,
police said on Friday.
ISIS claimed the bomb blast that tore through the
Seh Dokan mosque during midday prayers in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif
on Thursday.
The
attack also wounded 58 people.
Balkh
province's police spokesman Asif Waziri said Abdul Hamid Sangaryar was a key
operative of ISIS.
"He
was the mastermind of yesterday's attack on the mosque," Waziri told AFP.
The interior ministry also reported the arrest of Sangaryar, an Afghan
national.
"He
played a key role in several attacks in the past and had repeatedly managed to
escape, but this time we arrested him in a special operation," Waziri
said.
ISIS
also claimed a separate bomb attack in another northern city of Kunduz on
Thursday that killed four people and wounded 18 people.
The
group has taken responsibility for deadly attacks in Afghanistan, often against
Shiite targets, even as the number of bombings have fallen since the Taliban
seized power in August last year.
Shiite
Afghans are mostly from the ethnic Hazara community and make up between 10 and
20 percent of the country's 38 million people. They have long been the target
of the ISIS, who consider them heretics.
Earlier
this week, at least six people were killed in twin blasts that hit a boys'
school in a Shiite neighbourhood of Kabul.
No
group has so far claimed that attack.
Taliban
officials insist their forces have defeated ISIS, but analysts say the jihadist
group is a key security challenge.
The
Taliban have regularly raided suspected ISIS hideouts, especially in eastern
Nangarhar province -- a bastion of the ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K), the local wing
of the jihadist group.
Source:
ND TV
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US
envoy, Abdullah Abdullah Discuss Reopening Girls’ Schools in Afghanistan
23
Apr 2022
Kabul,
Afghanistan- The United States Special Representative for Afghanistan Thomas
West discussed the reopening of girls’ schools in Afghanistan with the head of
the former council of peace and national reconciliation of Afghanistan Abdullah
Abdullah.
Thomas
West in a Twitter post said the Afghan people desire to see the Afghan girls
return to secondary schools as soon as possible.
“Spoke
with Dr. Abdullah @DrabdullahCE to share condolences for the heinous recent
attacks in Afghanistan. Also discussed the Afghan peoples’ desire for girls to
return to secondary school as soon as possible. Got good advice as always.”
Reads the Tweet.
Earlier,
West discuss the issue of reopening schools for girls with Afghanistan’s former
president Hamid Karai and had called on the Taliban to welcome the call of
religious scholars and Afghan elders over reopening schools for girls.
Source:
Khaama Press
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UN
Condemns Kunduz Blast, Calls for Accountability for Crimes Perpetrated
23
Apr 2022
Kabul,
Afghanistan-The United Nations Deputy Special Representative of the
Secretary-General and Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan Ramiz Alakbarov
condemns Friday’s blast on a mosque in Imam Sahib District of the northern
Kunduz province while expressing condolences to the families of victims and
wishing the wounded ones speedy recovery.
Office
of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in a press release said recent
incidents in Afghanistan are a painful reminder of the insecurity and dangers
facing the Afghan people daily.
“The
indiscriminate use of improvised explosives devices, which has already caused
more than a hundred civilian casualties this week, is unacceptable and must
cease immediately.” Said Alakbarov.
Further,
the Deputy Special Representative reminded all parties to fully adhere to their
obligation under international humanitarian law and human rights law.
Alakbarov
called for the perpetrators of the blasts to be held accountable.
Source:
Khaama Press
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Afghan Taliban leader hopes Shehbaz's election as PM will cement bilateral ties
Tahir
Khan
April
22, 2022
The
head of the Taliban government in Afghanistan, Prime Minister Mullah Mohammad
Hasan, in a statement issued on Friday said he hoped that the election of
Shehbaz Sharif as Pakistan's prime minister would give a boost to bilateral
relations.
The
message from Mullah Hasan comes amid rising tensions between the two countries
over a spike in attacks on Pakistan forces which Pakistan says are being
conducted from inside Afghanistan by the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan
(TTP).
“On
behalf of the government and people of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, let
me extend my heartfelt congratulations to you on your appointment as the 23rd
Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan,” Hasan, who is the head of
the Taliban council of ministers, said.
“Your
appointment (as the Prime Minister) is a good and valuable step,” he said,
adding that he hoped "it will strengthen bilateral ties between
Afghanistan and Pakistan and lead to the development, prosperity and good
relations between the two brotherly nations."
“It
is worth mentioning that, on behalf of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, I
would like to assure you that good and comprehensive relations between the two
brotherly nations and the Muslim neighbouring countries would be further
enhanced and strengthened."
The
Taliban leader wished for the prosperity and well-being of the brotherly people
of Pakistan.
On
Sunday, the Foreign Office said incidents along with Pak-Afghan border had
significantly increased in the last few days, wherein Pakistani security forces
were being targeted from across the border.
The
FO spokesman said Pakistan had repeatedly requested the Afghan Government in
the last few months to secure the Pak-Afghan border region and that terrorists
were using Afghan soil with impunity to carry out activities inside Pakistan.
Meanwhile,
the Taliban have said they want to resolve any tension with Pakistan through
dialogue.
“The
Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan will not allow anyone to use Afghanistan
territory against other countries, particularly against its neighbours,” said a
Taliban commentary posted on Afghanistan's official news agency Bakhtar
following Pakistan’s recent statements that terrorists were using Afghanistan
soil against Pakistan.
“As
the focus of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s foreign policy is neutrality
and non-interference in the affairs of others, the leaders of IEA have
repeatedly accentuated that they will not allow anyone to use Afghanistan’s
territory against other countries, particularly against its neighbours,” it
said.
Talking
about Islamabad's stance that the TTP militants are hiding in Afghanistan and
have carried out terrorist attacks against Pakistan from time to time, the
Taliban commentary said the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan rejects Pakistan’s
claim and has repeatedly called on Pakistan to resolve any problems and
misunderstandings through constructive dialogue to ensure greater security in
the region.”
Source:
Dawn
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1686264
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Militants
in Afghanistan strike Pakistan army post, kill 3
April
23, 2022
ISLAMABAD:
Militants in Afghanistan fired heavy weapons across the border into a Pakistani
military outpost overnight, killing three personnel, the army said Saturday, in
the latest violence to rattle the volatile region.
A
firefight ensued with the militants firing toward the army post in Pakistan’s
rugged North Waziristan region, and several were killed, the statement said.
There was no immediate way to independently confirm details of the attack.
It
comes as Afghanistan is reeling from a series of explosions in recent days,
including the bombing of a mosque in northern Kunduz province on Friday that
killed 33 people, including several students of an adjacent religious school or
madrassa.
The
striking increase in attacks in Afghanistan — as well as in neighboring
Pakistan — highlights the growing security challenge facing Afghanistan’s
Taliban rulers, who swept to power last August in the closing days of the
chaotic withdrawal of American and NATO troops ending their 20-year war.
Even
as their harsh religiously motivated edicts, which seemed reminiscent of their
late 1990s rule, drew harsh criticism, their seemingly heavy-handed approach to
security brought early expectations of improved safety.
However
a vicious Islamic State affiliate known as the Islamic State in Khorasn
Province, or IS-K — which claimed the recent spate of attacks in Afghanistan as
well as a growing number in neighboring Pakistan — is proving an intractable
challenge.
IS-K
took responsibility for a series of attacks across Afghanistan on Thursday,
most of which targeted the country’s minority Shiites who the radical Sunni
Muslim group revile as heretics.
Still,
the IS-K, which is an enemy of Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers, is not the only
militant organization in Afghanistan contributing to the security dilemma
facing Kabul’s religiously driven government.
The
violent Pakistani Taliban, known as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or (TTP) —
which the United Nations says numbers around 10,000 in Afghanistan — has
stepped up its assault on Pakistan’s military outposts from its Afghan
hideouts. Even the upstart IS-K has taken responsibility for some of the
attacks targeting Pakistani military personnel, damaging relations between the
two countries.
Afghanistan’s
Taliban rulers have promised no militant group would use its soil as a base to
attack another country, but Kabul has yet to arrest or hand over any TTP
leaders in Afghanistan to Pakistan. Other militant groups also operating in
Afghanistan include China’s militant Uighurs of East Turkistan Movement, which
seeks independence for northwest China, and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan
(IMU).
Some
of the groups are loosely allied to the IS-K , while others act more
independently, but on Saturday Pakistan’s military statement warned
Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to do more.
“Pakistan
strongly condemns the use of Afghan soil by terrorists for activities against
Pakistan and expects that the Afghan Government will not allow conduct of such
activities, in future,” said the Pakistan military statement.
After
seven of its troops were killed in an ambush earlier this month, Pakistan on
April 16 retaliated with bombing raids inside Afghanistan that locals in
Afghanistan’s eastern Khost province said killed dozens of refugees. The United
Nations Education Fund (UNICEF) confirmed 20 children were killed in the
strikes in Afghanistan’s border provinces of Khost and Kunar.
Source:
Arab News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2069001/world
--------
India
Army
Veterans Move Supreme Court On Genocide Calls Against Muslims; Such Hate
Mongering Could Affect The Morale Of The Indian Army
R.
Balaji
23.04.22
The
Supreme Court on Friday agreed to examine a plea filed by a group of army
veterans seeking a court-monitored probe by a special investigation team into
the alleged calls for genocide against Muslims.
The
petitioners said that if left unchecked, such hate mongering could affect the
morale of the Indian Army and its battle preparedness as the force draws soldiers
from different communities, including Muslims, Sikhs and Christians.
“The
petitioners, who are retired officers of the armed forces, are specifically
concerned that such incidents, if gone unchecked, can have a serious impact on
the morale and integration of the soldiers in the armed forces who come from
diverse communities and religions,” senior advocate Shyam Divan told the bench
of Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and A.S. Oka.
Divan
made the submission while seeking to intervene in a pending PIL filed jointly
by journalist Qurban Ali and former Allahabad High Court judge Anjana Prakash
seeking action against those who delivered hate speeches against Muslims in
Delhi and Haridwar last December.
Justice
Khanwilkar told Divan that the court would hear the plea on May 9 but said no
notice would be issued. In the meantime, he said, the petitioners could go
through the affidavits filed by the Uttarakhand government and Delhi police and
see if these addressed the issues they had raised.
The
court directed the Uttarakhand government and the Delhi police to make copies
of their affidavits available to the army veterans.
The
Delhi police had last week told the Supreme Court that the allegation that
calls for genocide against Muslims had been sounded at a “Hindu Vahini” event
in December had been found “incorrect and absurd” and the matter had been
“closed”.
The
Uttarakhand government had sought time to file a status report on the action
taken over the Haridwar event.
Friday’s
petition was filed jointly by retired army officers Major General S.G.
Vombatkere, Colonel P.K. Nair and Major Priyadarshi Chowdhury.
According
to the petition, filed through advocate Senthil Jagadeesan, several
self-proclaimed sadhus had delivered inflammatory speeches, ostensibly
targeting the minorities, at the December 17-19 Dharma Sansad in Haridwar.
“In
the videos circulating on social media, one can see blatant calls for genocide
against minority communities. One of the speeches specifically calls upon the
police and the army to pick up arms against the minorities,” the petition said.
Source:
Telegraph India
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Supreme
Court Rapped Delhi Police For Claiming That No Calls For Genocide Against
Muslims Had Been Sounded At A Hindu Yuva Vahini Event
R.
Balaji
23.04.22
The
Supreme Court on Friday rapped Delhi police for claiming that no calls for
genocide against Muslims had been sounded at a Hindu Yuva Vahini event, asked
the force to file a “better affidavit” and wondered whether senior officers had
applied their mind while filing the present affidavit.
A
video of the December 19 event purportedly shows participants pledging to
“fight, die for and, if necessary, kill” to create a “Hindu Rashtra”. But the
Delhi police, who report to the Union home ministry, have claimed the
allegation of promoting genocide is “incorrect and absurd” since the video
features no “hate words targeting any particular community”.
“Affidavit
has been filed by the deputy commissioner of police. We want to know if he has
understood the nuances and applied his mind,” the bench of Justices A.M.
Khanwilkar and A.S. Oka asked additional solicitor-general K.M. Natraj, who was
appearing for the Delhi police.
“Or
has he merely reproduced the inquiry report of a sub-inspector-level officer?”
the bench asked.
The
deputy commissioner who filed the affidavit was a woman IPS officer, Esha
Pandey.
Her
April 14 affidavit said the participants at the event had gathered “to save the
ethics of their community” and empower their own religion to face evils that
could endanger its existence. It had added that the case relating to the event,
based on three complaints, had been closed.
“Has
any superior officer verified this — whether such a stand can be taken in an
affidavit?” Justice Khanwilkar asked Natraj.
While
Natraj tried to think of an answer, the bench said: “Do you want to have a
relook?”
The
law officer immediately agreed, saying: “We will have a relook and file a fresh
affidavit.”
Earlier,
senior advocate Kapil Sibal had told the bench: “They (participants at the
event) say they are ready to kill. The police say this is to save the ethics of
the community. Your lordships may have to decide constitutionally what the
ethics are.”
Sibal
was representing joint petitioners Qurban Ali, a journalist, and former
Allahabad High Court judge Anjana Prakash, who have alleged police failure to
act following alleged calls for genocide at the Delhi event and a December
17-19 Dharma Sansad in Haridwar, Uttarakhand.
At
Haridwar, several speakers had allegedly urged Hindus to take up weapons
against Muslims to create a Hindu Rashtra.
On
Friday, the counsel for the Uttarakhand government — which last week sought
time to file a status report on the action taken on the Haridwar event — told
the bench that the investigations were complete.
The
counsel added that the state wanted to challenge the locus standi of the
petitioners.
Himachal
event
Source:
Telegraph India
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Shahi
Idgah Of Mathura Removes Loudspeaker After Krishna Janmasthan Does
Apr
23, 2022
AGRA:
Two days after authorities of Shri Krishna Janmasthan temple in Mathura removed
loudspeakers from their premises, the management of the adjacent Shahi Idgah on
Friday, removed one of its loudspeakers and lowered the volume of two others
installed at its gate for broadcasting ‘Azaan’ (call for prayer). The move, the
Idgah officials said, was done in a bid to ensure that the sound does not
disturb others.
Secretary
of Shahi Idgah committee Tanveer Ahmad said that though they had not received
any government order, they voluntarily removed one of the loudspeakers and
decided to decrease the volume of others to maintain communal harmony in the
town. He added that the loudspeakers are used only for ‘Azaan’ and not for
‘Namaz.’
As
reported by TOI a day ago, the Shri Krishna Janmasthan Seva Sansthan had
disconnected its loudspeakers voluntarily following CM Yogi’s order. The
management had also announced that the temple would resume the use of
loudspeakers "if mosques in the city continue using them for Azaan and
other prayers”.
Source:
Times Of India
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Muslim
Cleric , Maulana Sajid Rashidi, Backs
Tauqir Raza’s Remark On PM Modi, Questions ‘To What Extent Can A Community
Tolerate Violence’
22
April, 2022
New
Delhi [India], April 22 (ANI): Backing the statement of Uttar Pradesh cleric
Tauqir Raza where he called Prime Minister Narendra Modi ‘Dhritarashtra’,
another Muslim cleric Maulana Sajid Rashidi on Friday backed Raza and
questioned ‘how much can a particular community tolerate violence’, Adding that
there will be some reaction to a particular action.
His
remarks came amid recent incidents of violence reported in some parts of the
country.
Rashidi’s
reaction came to the statement of Muslim cleric Raza where he said, “If the PM
like ‘Dhritarashtra’ (the blind king in the epic Mahabharata) remains deaf and
blind to the atrocities committed against Muslims then no one can stop another
‘Mahabharat’ from happening in India.”
Days
after the demolition drive in Delhi’s Jahangirpuri where communal violence
broke out on April 16, Uttar Pradesh cleric Tauqir Raza has given a call for a
‘jail bharo’ agitation after Eid if the government does not “mend its ways”
alleging that a one-sided investigation was being conducted in the case.
Speaking
to ANI, Maulana Rashidi said, “The type of situation and the atmosphere of
hatred being spread in the country, how much can a particular community
tolerate violence?”
He
further said, “During the Ram Navami procession, stone-pelting cases were
reported in many places. There are talks about it but no one is talking about
why is this happening.”
“If
you chant the “Jai Shri Ram” slogan standing at the gate of the mosque, if you
demean Muslims and abuse them, then it is obvious that there will be a reaction
to such actions,” Rashidi said.
The
cleric said, “When the Prime Minister can speak about mob lynching and other
issues like caw slaughtering, then he should also speak about the violence
reported in the Shobha Yatras.”
Source:
The Print
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Religious
Harmony: President Of The Kumarthupadi Devi Temple Has Been Observing The
Ramadan Fast For 21 Years
23rd
April 2022
By
Biju E PaulExpress News Service
ALAPPUZHA:
Amid apprehension over ideological conflicts damaging the secular fabric of the
country, examples of religious harmony emerging from various corners offer a
ray of hope. A coastal hamlet in Alappuzha has such a story to tell during the
month of Ramadan. For over two decades, JR Ajith, now the president of the
Kumarthupadi Devi temple administration committee in Chandiroor, has been
observing the Ramadan fast. In recent years, his wife Sandhya Lal, son Akash
Raj and daughter Evagreen too have been joining Ajith in holding the fast.
“I
have observed the month-long Ramadan fast without a break for 21 years,” Ajith
told TNIE. “I wake up by 4am to the Subah azan from the Chandiroor Juma Masjid.
After taking light food, I start fasting. I then have food only after the
Maghrib azan in the evening. For the past seven years, my family too has been
joining the fast. While my wife holds the fast rigorously, on some days, the
children skip it.”
He
said many of his friends belong to the Muslim community. “We are living in the
village as brothers and sisters. After finishing Class 10, aged 15, I began
working in the prawn-peeling industry. The owners of the peeling sheds were
Muslim. My association with them also inspired me to take up fasting,” he said.
While holding the fast, he visits the temple to offer prays and to take care of
the administrative affairs before returning to his prawn-peeling business.
Source:
New Indian Express
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Pakistan
Trends
against institutions see ‘organic decline’ as Imran softens tone
Zulqernain
Tahir
April 23, 2022
LAHORE:
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)’s action against those involved in a
vilification campaign against institutions, especially the army, on social
networking sites seems to have slowed down following a decline in the
“organised drive” in this respect. However, the agency claims it does not have
the capacity to analyse the complete data related to such campaigns online.
On
Friday, with three anti-army hashtags along with #ImportedHakoomatNamanzoor
(imported government unacceptable) were among the top trends on Twitter in
Pakistan. In such trends, the army and judiciary were targeted, but not
explicitly in the days following the ouster of Imran Khan from the office of
prime minister.
As
anti-army trends had a few thousand tweets, the #GhaltiSudharoElectionKarwao
trend reached 140,000 tweets while the #ImportedHakoomatNamanzoor shot up to
300,000 tweets. During the last seven days, 591,000 tweets have been made under
this hashtag, according to a PTI social media wing official who is monitoring
such data. However, a strong trend was witnessed on Twitter against the army
and judiciary, with over 20,000 tweets in the days following Mr Khan’s ouster
on April 10.
“The
FIA’s otherwise quick action against the social media activists believed to be
supporters of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has slowed down following the
downturn in the malicious campaign against the army and judiciary,” an official
source told Dawn on Friday.
Officials
claim crackdown on those trending anti-army material also slowing down
“The
anti-army and judiciary hashtags on Twitter and other online sites have seen a
downward trend for two major reasons; the PTI leadership’s intervention and law
enforcement agencies’ action,” he said, adding the raid on the houses of Imran
Khan’s focal person on digital media, Dr Arsalan Khalid, and some other PTI
social media activists, had helped in containing this campaign.
The
smear campaign against the institutions was launched in an “organised manner”
by social media activists operating from within and outside the country on
April 10. Most of the social media activists associated with the PTI have
reportedly gone underground to evade the FIA action, thus indirectly stopping
them from indulging in illegal activity.
A
PTI insider told Dawn that as the campaign against the institutions was making
top trends on the social media, some senior party leaders had requested Mr Khan
to give a ‘clear message’ to the party supporters not to target the army and
judiciary as this would not augur well for its interests in the future.
“Apparently
following the advice, Imran Khan, while interacting with nearly half a million
users from around the world via Spaces (a live audio feature on Twitter) a
couple of days ago, asked his supporters categorically not to speak against the
army, and this somehow had a positive impact on them as pro-army comments were
also witnessed on the social media platforms the following day,” he said.
In
a week-long action, the FIA rounded up some 17 suspects in Punjab for their
alleged involvement in the smear campaign against the institutions that had
kicked off after former prime minister was ousted through a no-confidence
motion.
Some
of them were released after a ‘brief interrogation’ while others were not
produced before a court of law. The FIA’s counter terrorism and cybercrime
wings, which launched the operation in collaboration with an intelligence
agency, kept “complete secrecy” over the matter.
Sources
said the FIA was unsuccessful in arresting over 30 suspects identified by the
intelligence agency who were involved in the campaign, which was run in an
organised manner. The FIA was provided with a list of 50 such activists by
intelligence agencies to lay hands on.
“The
FIA does not have the capacity to analyse the complete data related to such
smear campaigns online.” The FIA usually goes after those who are running such
anti-institution campaigns (on social media), but it lacks both technology and
human resources to analyse millions of such social media posts for a concrete
action and future strategy,” the source said. The FIA usually asked the
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to remove such defamatory posts and
wrote to Twitter and Facebook to close such accounts, the source added.
Both
FIA’s counter terrorism wing head, Humanyun Sandhu, and cybercrime director,
Humanyun Bashir, refused to respond to Dawn’s queries in this regard.
The
founder of Digital Rights Foundation, Nighat Dad, told Dawn that the supporters
of any party would take forward the narratives of their leadership on social
media.
She
said the action against some social media activists had certainly helped
contain the anti-army and anti-judiciary campaigns online, but the major impact
came when the party leadership conveyed a message of restraint to its
supporters. “We have noticed that Imran Khan asked his supporters not to target
the army and have subsequently seen its impact on social media,” Ms Dad said.
She
said the PTI government had brought a controversial Peca Ordinance to primarily
curb the free speech of its opponents and media people. “But PTI social media
activists and supporters are lucky that the court has struck down this
controversial ordinance giving them a chance to vent their feelings otherwise
they might have been booked under this law,” she said.
Ms
Dad further said the FIA should not take action against those for “offensive
speech” but against those who endanger someone’s life.
Asad
Baig of Media Matters for Democracy told Dawn when there were favourable
hashtag trends, the political parties took it as their popularity and boasted
about their power but quickly distanced themselves from accounts defaming
individuals in the same hashtags.
Source:
Dawn
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Imran
Khan’s terror policy backfires as Pak grapples with terrorism
23
April, 2022
Islamabad
[Pakistan], April 23 (ANI): Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s
sympathy with terrorist groups and his policy of making bargains with them have
backfired on the country by encouraging terrorists to up their ante, said a
media report.
Khan,
as a premier, made an overreach to the terrorist groups and even batted for
them as he sought reconciliation with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a
terror outfit banned in Pakistan.
Insisting
that he did not favour military solutions, the former premier once called
terrorists “normal citizens” and even said that the US “really messed it up” in
Afghanistan by initially finding a military solution and later looking for a
political solution, reported Islaam Khabar.
Refuting
the allegations of Pakistan’s direct support to the Taliban with over 10,000
Pakistani fighters travelling to Afghanistan to assist the Taliban in their war
against the West-backed Afghan government, Imran Khan claimed that they were
not Taliban or its supporters, but “normal civilians, who are returning to
their country”.
He
also endorsed the belief that the Afghan Taliban was fighting a holy war or
“Jihad” against the enemies of Islam in Afghanistan. Earlier in 2012, “Imran
Khan had repeatedly tried to justify the Taliban’s terrorism, calling it a
‘holy war’ for Islam”, reported the media outlet.
However,
Khan’s terror policy of sympathising with the perpetrator of violence backfired
as Pakistan witnessed a massive increase in terror attacks in the country, so
much that Khan even pleaded with the United Nations to stop cross-border
terrorism emanating from Afghan soil.
While
Pakistan facilitated the travel of TTP terrorists to Afghanistan to help the
Taliban in its war against the Afghan government, it is now itself grappling
with the terror attacks carried out by the group that now wants its fighters to
be allowed to return to Pakistan after the Afghan Taliban began pressurising
them to leave their country.
Moreover,
the Peshawar mosque attack in March this year that led to the killing of 63
Shia worshippers and injuring 200 was a wake-up call for Imran Khan about the
failure of his terror policy.
The
TTP’s desire is to overthrow, violently or otherwise, the Pakistani state and
impose their interpretation of Sharia throughout the country and there is no
offering short of this, no concession or act of generosity, that Islamabad will
be able to buy TTP forbearance with,” the media outlet reported citing
sub-continental counter-terror experts.
Source:
The Print
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://theprint.in/world/imran-khans-terror-policy-backfires-as-pak-grapples-with-terrorism/927586/
--------
3
soldiers martyred in N. Waziristan during gun battle with terrorists from
Afghanistan: ISPR
Naveed
Siddiqui
April
23, 2022
Three
soldiers were martyred in the Dewagar area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's North
Waziristan district during an exchange of fire with terrorists from across the
Afghan border, the military's media affairs wing said on Saturday.
According
to a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), terrorists
opened fire on Pakistani troops from across the Afghan border and the latter
"responded in a befitting manner".
"As
per credible intelligence reports, due to fire of own troops, terrorists
suffered heavy casualties," the ISPR said, adding that three soldiers embraced
martyrdom after fighting gallantly.
The
martyred soldiers have been identified as 30-year-old Havaldar Taimoor, a
resident of Jhelum; 38-year-old Naik Shoaib, a resident of Attock; and
24-year-old Sepoy Saqib Nawaz, a resident of Sialkot.
"Pakistan
strongly condemns the use of Afghan soil by terrorists for activities against
Pakistan and expects that [the] Afghan government will not allow conduct of
such activities in [the] future," the ISPR said, adding that the Pakistan
Army "is determined to defend Pakistan's borders against the menace of
terrorism and such sacrifices of our brave men further strengthen our
resolve".
Earlier
on April 14, eight soldiers were martyred in two terrorist attacks in North
Waziristan.
In
one incident, seven soldiers were martyred when terrorists had ambushed a
vehicle of security forces in Datakhel tehsil of the North Waziristan district
by terrorists operating from Afghanistan, according to the Foreign Office.
Separately,
another soldier was martyred during a clash between security forces and
terrorists in the district's Isham area.
Last
month, four soldiers had embraced martyrdom in North Waziristan's Hassan Khel
area during an exchange of fire with terrorists who attempted to infiltrate
into Pakistan from Afghanistan on the night between March 23 and March 24.
In
the last few days, incidents along Pak-Afghan border had significantly
increased, in which Pakistani security forces were being targeted from across
the border.
Last
week, the Foreign Office had urged the Afghan government to secure the
Pak-Afghan border region and take stern actions against the individuals
involved in terrorist activities in Pakistan, in the interest of peace and
progress of the two brotherly countries.
Source:
Dawn
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Judges’
decisions should benefit nation, observes CJP
Nasir
Iqbal
April
23, 2022
ISLAMABAD:
Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial observed on Friday that as
judges “we hope to act in accordance with our conscience and the Constitution
and then pray that whatever we decide should benefit the nation”.
The
observation came when senior counsel Makhdoom Ali Khan, who represents the
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, drew an analogy between the Supreme Court’s April
7 decision in the National Assembly deputy speaker’s ruling case and a quote
from Seamus Heaney, a Nobel-winning Irish poet: “History says, ‘don’t hope on
this side of the grave’… But then once in a lifetime the longed-for tidal wave
of justice can rise up and hope and history rhyme.”
The
counsel said the April 7 decision was very significant since it was delivered
when a session of the National Assembly had already been requisitioned on the
no-trust motion and when a beleaguered prime minister apparently knew he had
lost his majority in the lower house.
The
CJP, however, acknowledged that the court was dealing with a very important
question in the presidential reference — interpretation of Article 63A of the
Constitution — and wondered whether the court could remain prisoner of the
words used in the question or rephrase it.
Chief
Justice Umar Ata Bandial admitted that Pakistan was a nascent democracy, but
“we should cooperate to lead the country to mature democracy, but it could happen
only when we debate on issues”.
Justice
Munib Akhtar said the most honourable option for a member who intended to
question the decision of the party head was to resign and go home.
Makhdoom
Ali Khan argued that even if such an individual resigns, the government would
still be defeated since it was going to lose a crucial vote.
The
counsel argued that decisions of the court must be obeyed whether one liked it
or not and no resistance should be offered to it.
He
recalled that despite apprehensions of defections, no member deviated from the
party line during the no-confidence vote on April 9.
“Therefore,
the reference is not based on facts and what is being feared did not happen,”
the counsel contended. “Thus the presidential reference has not survived the
time.”
Referring
to criticism on the April 7 apex court order, Makhdoom Ali Khan cited a
statement by Abraham Lincoln on June 26, 1867, in which he said: “This is how
statesmen behave even when they dislike a decision. They accept it. They work
to change it through the courts while remaining obedient to it in life.
“Disobedience
would lead to anarchy. A republic cannot survive disobedience to judicial
decisions.”
The
CJP observed that the reference was still relevant in view of the events that
took place.
Makhdoom
Ali Khan argued that the reference had called upon the apex court to give an
opinion under its advisory jurisdiction, but at the same time the head of the
political party concerned had also moved a petition under Article 184(3) of the
Constitution on the same lines. “This is like a second bite of the cherry,” the
counsel contended.
He
emphasised that none of the members against whom the reference was intended
were made respondents nor were notices issued to them.
Mr
Makhdoom referred to a suggestion by PTI counsel Ali Zafar that a “purposive
interpretation” by the Supreme Court on the reference would imply that a
defector’s vote should not be counted so that he could not enjoy the fruits of
his disloyalty and argued that no such prayer was made either in the reference
or the PTI petition.
Makhdoom
Ali Khan observed that through the reference the apex court was being asked to
invoke Article 63A only to bypass the requirement of Article 239 of the
Constitution, which dealt with the constitutional amendment.
Thus
if the Supreme Court comes up with life-time disqualification for defection and
rules that a defecting member’s vote must not be counted, the court’s opinion
would virtually supersede the constitutional amendment.
“Given
the present political divide,” the counsel argued, “some of the questions on
which the opinion was sought were political in nature”.
“The
court can decide political cases, but not political questions.”
Besides
another question being asked about steps to eradicate floor crossing was far
too vague to be answered by the apex court, Makhdoom Ali Khan stressed.
‘Morally
neutral’
The
counsel said he did not see Article 63A as a moral clause even though it was
“morally abhorrent.
“But
the provision still is morally neutral. A person can vote in accordance with
his conscience if he genuinely feels that the prime minister has become a
threat and no longer fit to lead if he is pursuing a bad law.”
But
his conscience would be immaterial in the present case since he would lose his
seat whereas a person who had taken money and voted in favour of the bad law
would succeed.
Source:
Dawn
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1686359/judges-decisions-should-benefit-nation-observes-cjp'
--------
Army officer martyred in gunfight with terrorists in Balochistan's Awaran: ISPR
Naveed
Siddiqui
April
22, 2022
A
Pakistan Army major embraced martyrdom during an exchange of fire with
terrorists in Balochistan's Awaran area, the military's media affairs wing said
on Friday.
According
to a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), a group of
terrorists "fire raided" a security forces' checkpost in the area of
Kahan, near Awaran. However, the forces repulsed the attack and went after the
terrorists in the nearby mountains.
"At
one of the cordons established to block the passage of fleeing terrorists, a
heavy exchange of fire took place between terrorists and security forces,"
the ISPR added.
During
the skirmish, the military said, a valiant son of the soil, Major Shahid
Basheer, lost his life while another soldier sustained injuries.
The
ISPR said the forces caused heavy losses to the terrorists.
"Security
forces, in step with the nation, remain determined to thwart attempts at
sabotaging peace, stability, and progress of Balochistan."
Separately,
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the terrorist attack.
According
to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), he prayed for the "higher ranks of
valiant son of the soil, Major Shahid Basheer, who embraced shahadat and prayed
for recovery of the injured".
PM
Shehbaz also appreciated the determination and security forces' resolve to
thwart attempts at sabotaging peace, stability and progress in Balochistan.
"He
(Shehbaz) said that the nation is standing solidly behind its armed forces in
the fight against terrorism," the PMO quoted him as saying.
In
January this year, ten soldiers were martyred after terrorists attacked a
security forces' checkpost in Balochistan's Kech district.
The
ISPR had said the "fire raid" by terrorists occurred on the night of
Jan 25-26. One terrorist was also killed in retaliatory fire by the forces.
Source:
Dawn
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Europe
Kids
cook while fasting to raise money during Ramadan for UK mental health charity
April
22, 2022
LONDON:
A British Muslim 11-year-old boy who marked his first Ramadan last year by
cooking while fasting to raise money for charity has returned with a whole
entourage.
Zaavier
Khan, from Ilford, in east London, began his campaign alone to collect £5,000
($6,503) for UK food parcels and this year he is touring restaurants and homes
and cooking with a 15-member squad that calls itself the Ramadan Kids.
Khan
told Arab News: “During the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown, children were
stuck inside, and they got really depressed because they couldn’t go out, they
couldn’t meet anyone, and see anyone. Because of that, children’s mental health
has risen by 50 percent, which is why we’re trying to help them.”
The
children, whose ages range from five to 12, aim to raise £10,000 for UK-based
mental health and bereavement charity Supporting Humanity during the Muslim
holy month to support children’s mental health.
Khan’s
mother said she initiated the campaign last year because she wanted to mark her
son’s first Ramadan in a significant way and not only to practice abstaining
from eating but also charitable contributions.
Having
not intended to do it again, Tahreem Noor said her son had approached her a few
months ago and asked if they were going to repeat the gesture this year, as he
had fun and raised money for charity.
“That
is exactly what I wanted. I want to raise my son into a humanitarian who raises
money for causes that are of dire neglect and need some attention, at the same
time as incorporating his traditional, cultural, and religious values into it,”
she added.
This
time Noor wanted to have a “ripple effect” and get more children involved in
supporting local causes, so reached out to a charity that she was already
involved with.
“We
want to teach the children that charity begins at home, Islamically speaking,
according to hadith (traditions or sayings of the Prophet Muhammad), we are
told first feed the poor in your family, then feed your neighbor, then your
village, your city, your country.
“So,
grow as your resources and your money grows, and I want them to appreciate that
they can make a small change in their community,” she said.
Noor
pointed out that Supporting Humanity was highlighting an increase in mental
health issues impacting children, while also raising much-needed funds.
“Children’s
mental health has gone up drastically in the last two years, to the point that
one in six children, according to research, are now expected to have prolonged
mental health problems, which is a big number,” she said, adding that some
children even finished high school virtually and never got to experience it.
She
noted that the British National Health Service could not facilitate these
children, that there was not enough help for parents to understand children’s
mental health issues, and there was a shortage of assistance given to children
with mental health problems.
The
funds will go toward organizing a series of workshops and field trips with
trained professionals to help children in the community address mental health
issues and teach them mechanisms on how to work and live with anxiety,
addictions, or problems they may have experienced in the last few years, Noor added.
The
children, not all of whom are fasting due to their young age, are being taught
how to cook recipes by a chef and then cooking at home for their families and
posting on social media to raise awareness.
Last
year, Nitesh Shetty, executive chef at Saffron Street, taught Khan to make
healthy dishes for Ramadan, including chicken tikka wrap, watermelon quinoa
salad, and date and vanilla milkshakes. This year, the decision was made to
introduce fun recipes that the children could enjoy making, such as nanza, an
Indian version of pizza that uses naan bread as the base and has a spice kick.
Source:
Arab News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2068756/world
--------
Levant
Scholars’ Union condemns burning copies of the Holy Qur’an by extremists in
Sweden
22
April،
2022
Damascus,
SANA- The Union of Scholars of the Levant Friday condemned the act of burning
copies of the holy book of Qur’an at the hands of extreme right groups in
Sweden, denouncing all these abuses that come within the frenzied hostility
campaigns towards it.
“That
shameful act which doesn’t usually come as a single event, rather it comes as a
link in a chain of the hatred towards the Qur’an and the Prophet Muhammed,
PBUH, ranging from offensive cartoons, satirical films, racism statements,
reaching to desecration of sanctities and storming the worship places as the
Zionists do in the Al-Aqsa Mosque in al-Quds.” the Union said in a statement.
The
Union added that those successive abuses in the Holy month of Ramadan reveal to
the world that the freedom mottos claimed by the West are nothing but lies
whose effect stops when they don’t serve its interests revealing its real face
hostile to goodness, mercy and humanity.
Source:
Sana
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Mideast
Senior
Cleric: Iran Merely Accepts Removal of All Sanctions
2022-April-22
Addressing
a congregation of people at Tehran's Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla
(congregational prayers site), Ayatolallah Khatami said, "Iranian nation
will accept nothing but removal of all cruel and oppressive sanctions imposed
against the country."
In
relevant remarks in late November, Tehran's Provisional Friday Prayers leader
Hojjatoleslam Seyed Mohammad Hassan Aboutorabifard called on the European
leaders not to sacrifice the interests of their nations for the sake of the
illegitimate interests of the US and Israel.
Hojatoleslam
Aboutorabi Fard touched on the new round of nuclear talks between Iran and
Group 4+ 1 in Vienna, Austria.
He
called on the leaders of the European countries not to sacrifice the interests
of the European nations to the illegitimate interests of the "United
States and the Zionist regime".
"The
interests of European nations are tied to the interests of Asia, specially West
Asia, and today it is the Islamic Republic of Iran that has the authority to
guard this security. If it were not for the authority of the Resistance, Europe
would be exposed to severe insecurity today, and it was the authority of Islamic
Iran and the Resistance that defeated the ISIL," the senior cleric added.
He
pointed out that today, it is known to everyone that the policies of the United
States in the West Asian region have been failed.
"Given
the tremendous amount of contradictions and conflicts in US strategic plans,
the inability of the Pentagon and US military apparatus to suppress popular
movements in the world, we are witnessing a decline in US soft power," he
further said.
The
revival of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, officially called the Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) has been on the agenda of high-profile
negotiations between Iran and the remaining signatories, known as the G4+1
group (Russia, China, Britain and France plus Germany), in the Austrian capital
since April.
The
JCPOA was unilaterally abandoned by the US in 2018, when former US President
Donald Trump decided to implement a “maximum pressure” policy against Tehran.
US
President Joe Biden promised to reverse Trump’s own reversing of his
predecessor Barack Obama’s decision to sign on to the JCPOA. The Biden
administration also argued on the sidelines of the Vienna talks that Tehran and
Washington should mutually return to their commitments under the agreement.
Source:
Fars News Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/14010202000469/Senir-Cleric-Iran-Merely-Acceps-Remval-f-All-Sancins
--------
Hamas
makes demands of Israel to prevent escalation in Gaza
Mai
Abu Hasaneen
April
22, 2022
Hamas’
political chief Ismail Haniyeh said in an April 15 press statement that the
resistance group would retaliate should Israeli settlers’ attacks continue in
Al-Aqsa Mosque, saying it would “defend Al-Aqsa at all costs” and outlined four
demands for Israel:
allow
worshipers to access Al-Aqsa Mosque freely and not attack them inside the holy
site
release
the detainees arrested at April 15 as well as those arrested earlier
prevent
any animal sacrifices inside the mosque, in reference to threats by extremist
Jewish groups to carry out sacrifices at the mosque compound
end
the assassinations in Jenin, the nearby camp and throughout the West Bank
Egyptian
intelligence officials and UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace
Process Tor Wennesland have intensified contacts with both sides in a bid to
prevent escalation in Gaza over the Al-Aqsa events. Hamas also stated in a
press release that Haniyeh had received a call from Wennesland, “who called on
all concerned parties to work to contain the situation.”
But
despite the Egyptian and UN-led mediation efforts to avoid an escalation from
the Gaza Strip, a rocket was fired from the enclave toward Israel on April 19.
No faction claimed responsibility. In response, the Israeli military launched
airstrikes inside Gaza for the first time since last year’s conflict and
Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing, reacted by firing surface-to-air rockets
at the Israeli jets.
On
April 21, a series of rockets were launched from Gaza toward southern Israel,
with no claim of responsibility from any faction. Subsequently, Israel hit
resistance positions inside the enclave, with Hamas responding by firing a surface-to-air
rocket.
In
an April 21 press statement, Izzat al-Rishq, a member of Hamas’ political
bureau, said Israel’s strikes were “an attempt by the occupation to cover for
its failure.”
Rishq
said “the Palestinian people and the resistance” had forced the Israeli
authorities to stop a far-right march by settlers toward Damascus Gate in
Jerusalem, as well halting plans for animal sacrifices at Al-Aqsa.
On
April 19, the far-right Jewish group "Chozrim Lahar " (Return to the
Temple Mount) was stopped by Israeli police from sacrificing a goat inside
Al-Aqsa Mosque.
On
April 20, the Israeli press reported that the political leadership has decided
to close the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque to Jewish settlers from April 22
until the end of Ramadan, in an effort to defuse tension. The same day, the
Israeli police prevented Jewish extremists including Knesset member Itamar
Ben-Gvir from reaching the Damascus Gate area in east Jerusalem for their
planned "Flag March," following threats from Hamas and other
Palestinian factions.
Haniyeh
said in an April 21 press statement, “Just like we defeated the Flag March, we
will defeat the policy of raids into Al-Aqsa Mosque. We are still at the
beginning of the battle against the Israeli occupation.” In another statement,
Hamas called on the Palestinian people to head en masse to Al-Aqsa Mosque the
next day to perform the fajr (dawn) prayer and defend the holy site against
Israeli violations.
On
April 22, fresh clashes erupted between Muslim worshipers and Israeli police at
the mosque, leaving at least 31 Palestinians injured.
On
April 21, Al-Araby al-Jadeed quoted anonymous Egyptian sources knowledgable of
Cairo’s mediation between Israel and the Palestinians as saying that Cairo
asked Hamas not to take advantage of the current situation — in reference to
the weakness of the Israeli governing coalition — and avoid launching rockets
from Gaza toward Israel.
Egypt,
the sources added, believes that rocket strikes as Israeli Prime Minister
Naftali Bennett’s government is grappling with internal crises will lead to the
government’s collapse and the advent of a more far-right one, which will be
worse for Palestinians.
Israeli
Defense Minister Benny Gantz said during a meeting with city leaders in the
Gaza envelope, “We are ready for any scenario, and we will respond with force
if need be. We have plans for Gaza if we are forced to take action.”
Hamas
spokesperson in Lebanon Jihad Taha told Al-Monitor, “Defending Al-Aqsa Mosque
is a priority for Hamas.” He added that Palestinians have the right to resist
Israeli aggression “by all available means.”
Taha
called on the international community to take bold action to stop the killing
of Palestinians and depriving Palestinian prisoners of their basic rights.
“Hamas,
however, does not rely much on the international community, which does not do
justice to the Palestinian people and the resistance factions against the
Israeli occupation,” he said.
Iyad
al-Qara, a political writer close to Hamas, told A-Monitor, “Hamas has
succeeded in prompting Israel to stop animal sacrifices inside the mosque and
release dozens of young men who were arrested at dawn on April 15 in Al-Aqsa.”
He
added that while some 470 people were arrested that day, the Israeli forces
have stopped arresting wanted Palestinians in the West Bank “for the first time
since April 8, according to a statement by the Israeli Army Radio on April 16,”
Qara said.
He
added, that Hamas wants to avoid “a full-scale confrontation" and that firing
rockets from Gaza is only a pressure tactic.
Yet
Mukhaimer Abu Saada, a professor of political science at al-Azhar University in
Gaza, told Al-Monitor it would be an “exaggeration” to say Israel has accepted
Hamas’ demands. “Israel continues to carry out arrests in the West Bank and
settlers did not stop their incursions into Al-Aqsa,” he noted.
Source:
Al Monitor
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2022/04/hamas-makes-demands-israel-prevent-escalation-gaza
--------
Iran
Voices Concern over Repeated Terrorist Attacks in Afghanistan
2022-April-22
Khatibzadeh's
remarks came in reaction to reports on the repeated bomb attacks in various
cities of Afghanistan.
"Iran
is concerned over the sharp rise in the number of such bitter incidents,"
the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman said.
Pointing
out that the latest bomb attacks in Afghanistan took place in the holy fasting
month of Ramadan when mosques are more crowded due to people’s presence, he
said such terrorist attacks, whose main targets are fasting Muslim prayers, are
abhorrent.
Khatibzadeh
wished patience for the families of the victims of the terrorist attacks and
recovery of the injured ones.
Two
powerful explosions hit two mosques in Mazar-i-Sharif, the capital of Balkh
province.
Source:
Fars News Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Israel
closes Erez Crossing from Gaza strip after rocket attacks: Ministry
23
April ,2022
Israel
said it will close its only crossing from the Gaza Strip for workers on Sunday
after the Palestinian enclave fired three rockets at the Jewish state.
“Following
the rockets fired toward Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip last night, it
was decided that crossings into Israel for Gazan merchants and workers through
the Erez Crossing will not be permitted this upcoming Sunday,” COGAT, a unit of
the defense ministry responsible for Palestinian civil affairs, said in a
statement on Saturday.
For
the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
On
Friday night, two rockets were fired from Gaza at southern Israel, with one
hitting the Jewish state and the other falling short and striking near a
residential building in northern Gaza, Palestinian and Israeli sources said.
Early
Saturday, a third rocket was fired at Israel, the army said, with no air raid
sirens activated for any of the launches.
The
rockets, which follow similar attacks on Wednesday and Thursday, come as
Israeli police have been clashing with Palestinian protesters at Jerusalem’s
flashpoint al-Aqsa mosque compound in recent days.
Israel
had carried out retaliatory strikes following the earlier rocket attacks, but
in an apparent desire to prevent further violence, shifted its response this
time to the painful economic measure of closing Erez, implying that further
rockets would extend the penalty.
Source:
Al Arabiya
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Two
rockets fired from Gaza at Israel: Army
22
April ,2022
Palestinian
militants in the Gaza Strip fired two rockets at Israel late Friday, the army
said, after a day of clashes at Jerusalem’s flashpoint al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
“A
rocket hit an open field near the border fence with northern Gaza. Another
rocket hit inside the [Gaza] Strip,” the Israeli army said on Twitter, noting
air raid sirens were not activated in the latest attack.
On
Tuesday, Israel carried out strikes in the Gaza Strip after a rocket was fired
from the Palestinian enclave into Israel, witnesses and its ruling Hamas
movement said.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2022/04/22/Two-rockets-fired-from-Gaza-at-Israel-Army
--------
Israeli
forces use drone to drop tear gas on Palestinian worshipers in al-Aqsa
22
April ,2022
Israeli
forces used at least one drone to fire tear gas on the grounds of al-Aqsa
Mosque compound in Jerusalem, resulting in the suffocation of dozens of worshipers,
Al Arabiya’s correspondent reported on Friday.
The
Palestinian Red Crescent was on site treating those injured in field clinics.
Around
150,000 worshippers performed Friday prayers in al-Aqsa.
For
the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Earlier
on Friday, Israeli police and Palestinian youths clashed in al-Aqsa Mosque
compound despite a temporary halt to Jewish visits to the site, which are seen
as a provocation by the Palestinians.
Clashes
between Israeli police and Palestinians also broke out south of Nablus in the
West Bank following Friday prayers, according to Palestine’s news agency WAFA.
Police
used rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas, the report added.
Last
week, Israel’s forces stormed al-Aqsa mosque which left at least 152
Palestinians injured.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Gunmen
kill bodyguard of Iran Guards general: state media
April
23, 2022
TEHRAN:
Gunmen killed the bodyguard of a general from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on
Saturday in an attack on a checkpoint in the country’s restive southeast, state
media said.
IRNA
news agency said the shooting occurred in Sistan-Baluchistan, a province
bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan that is often the scene of attacks or
clashes between security forces and armed groups.
The
slain bodyguard was identified as Mahmoud Absalan, the son of General Parviz
Absalan, a commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in the region.
State
television said “criminals” had opened fire at the checkpoint, located at the
entrance to the provincial capital of Zahedan.
IRNA
said the security forces arrested those behind the attack.
Poverty-stricken
Sistan-Baluchistan is a flashpoint for clashes with smuggling gangs, as well as
separatists from the Baluchi minority and extremist militant groups.
In
January, state media said three Guard members were among nine people killed in
a clash with “armed criminals” in the same region.
And
in November, IRNA said three members of the security forces were killed in
similar circumstances also in Sistan-Baluchistan.
Source:
Arab News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2069006/middle-east
--------
Southeast Asia
End
‘unfair and unreasonable’ treatment of Rohingya, says Najib
April
22, 2022
PETALING
JAYA: Malaysia should step up diplomatic efforts to look for new homes for
Rohingya refugees abroad or allow them to work in the country, says Najib
Razak.
The
former prime minister suggested that Rohingya refugees should be given the
chance to contribute to the economy temporarily instead of focusing on
recruiting workers from other countries.
This
comes after more than 500 Rohingya refugees detained at a temporary immigration
depot in Kedah escaped in the early hours of Wednesday morning following a
riot. Six of them were killed after being hit by a vehicle on a highway.
“It
is unfair and unreasonable for us to let them be detained for many years,”
Najib said in a Facebook post.
“In
humanitarian terms, the government needs to do something for this group if the
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other countries still do not want
to rehome them.”
He
said that continuing to detain Rohingya refugees would only result in the
government having to bear the cost of their detention in immigration depots.
Umno
vice-president Khaled Nordin also touched on Wednesday’s incident, and called
on the government to show compassion and humanity to those who seek refuge in
the country.
Source:
Free Malaysia Today
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
UN
refugee agency ‘shocked’ at Rohingya deaths in Malaysia escape
22
Apr 2022
The
United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) has said it is “shocked and deeply
saddened” by the deaths of six Rohingya, including two children, who died on
Wednesday in an escape this week from a temporary immigration detention centre
in northern Malaysia.
The
group was among 528 Rohingya people who fled the facility in the early hours of
Wednesday morning after what authorities said was a riot.
The
UNHCR, which has an office in Kuala Lumpur, said in a statement late on
Thursday, that it was also concerned about the incident that led to the escape.
Tens
of thousands of Rohingya, a mostly Muslim minority who have long been
persecuted in Myanmar, have sought safety in Malaysia with many risking
dangerous boat journeys to get to the country following a brutal military
crackdown in 2017 that is now the subject of an international genocide case.
The
UN refugee agency said it did not have any information regarding the incident
or the individuals involved, and revealed that it had not been allowed to
access any immigration detention centres in Malaysia since August 2019.
“This
has unfortunately prevented UNHCR in seeing detained persons of concern in
order to determine those in need of international protection and to advocate
for their release,” the statement said, noting that there are “detained persons
of concern, including vulnerable individuals, requiring our attention” in
immigration detention centres across Malaysia.
It
said it was ready to work with the Malaysian government on alternatives to
detention, especially for children and the elderly.
“Depriving
individuals of their liberty in order to deter others from entering the country
is unlawful, inhumane and ineffective,” the statement said. “Seeking asylum is
not an unlawful act. In all cases detention should be a measure of last resort,
should be authorized by the law and only undertaken if necessary and reasonable
in all the circumstances, and proportionate to a legitimate aim.”
The
six people who died were killed as they tried to cross the North-South Highway,
the main road that links northern Malaysia to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.
The
immigration department said most of the group was rearrested hours after they
escaped, but police continue to search for nearly 100 people who remain free.
Some
664 people were in the centre at the time of the disturbances, 137 of them
children, Malaysia’s home minister Hamzah Zainudin told local media on
Wednesday. The Rohingya had arrived by sea in 2020 and had been transferred
from the resort island of Langkawi, he added.
“Because
there were so many detainees in a cramped space, things got out of control and
the detainees took the opportunity to break out,” Hamzah said.
Some
181,000 people in Malaysia are officially registered as refugees and asylum
seekers, according to the UN, and about 57 percent of them are Rohingya. Like
many countries in the region, Malaysia does not recognise the UN Refugee
Convention and those caught without papers are considered “illegal” migrants.
Source:
Al Jazeera
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Pact
with Bersatu, PAS will diminish PH
April
23, 2022
Amanah
deputy chief Salahuddin Ayub became the third prominent Pakatan Harapan leader to scramble what appears to be an
evolving Pakatan Harapan (PH) consensus: that it go into GE15 without any
electoral understanding with perpetrators of the Sheraton Move.
PKR’s
Anwar Ibrahim was the first major PH leader to cloud the evolving consensus when
he disclosed some weeks ago that he had engaged Bersatu leader Muhyiddin Yassin
in discussions of an unspecified nature.
Following
this, Saifuddin Nasution, secretary-general of PKR, in remarks made while
campaigning for the deputy presidency of the party, said PH should not rule out
cooperation with any opposition party going into GE15.
The
feelers put out by Anwar and Saifuddin were soon overtaken by forthright
pronouncements against cooperation with Sheraton Move perpetrators from DAP
chairman Lim Guan Eng, secretary-general Anthony Loke and Amanah chief Mohamad
Sabu.
All
three voiced what appeared to be the evolving consensus that PH ought not to
have anything to do with Bersatu and PAS where cooperation between opposition
parties concerning GE15 was concerned.
Such
is the lingering antipathy among PH supporters towards the Sheraton Move that
no electoral collaboration with parties complicit in the “Move” should be
entertained.
Terms
like “betrayal” and “traitorous” employed by PH leaders to describe the
Sheraton Move and its perpetrators, more than two years after it occurred,
continue to convey the acidulous grudge these leaders feel towards the “Move”
that will live in infamy.
Hence
it came as a huge surprise that days after Mat Sabu had closed the PH door to
cooperation than his deputy Salahuddin should equivocate on the matter.
Salahuddin,
the MP for Pulai, intimated that Mat Sabu may have been misquoted and the
Amanah leader also referred to Guan Eng’s proscription against cooperation with
Bersatu and PAS as not quite the final word on the matter.
Salahuddin’s
equivocations, together with the feelers on cooperation put out by Anwar and
Saifuddin, misread the feelings of PH supporters which is that engineers of the
Sheraton Move are verboten and must be regarded as such going into GE15.
What
the Sheraton Move perpetrators did was a dastardly act of betrayal of the
verdict of voters in GE14 which was in favour of the change espoused by the PH
coalition.
Also,
the tenor of the government by Perikatan Nasional that took over the
administration of the country in March 2020 took no heed of the PH reform
programme that was endorsed by voters at GE14 in May 2018.
In
that sense, the PN betrayal, in particular Bersatu’s, was doubly galling: It
not only backstabbed its allies in PH, it cared a fig for the PH reform
manifesto when it assumed the reins of government.
True,
it could be argued as extenuation that prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad,
during PH’s 22-month tenure, himself in word and deed dishonoured the
manifesto. But at least, he did not let dishonour tip over into betrayal.
The
results of state polls in Sabah, Melaka, Sarawak and Johor suggest that voter
sentiment is swinging back in favour of Umno-BN, after its historic ouster from
federal governance at GE14.
It
is better for PH to talk inter-opposition party cooperation in preparation for
GE15 with Warisan and Muda than with Bersatu and PAS.
Among
PH supporters, much odium lingers with regard to what the PN parties did in
February 2020 in order to take over the federal government.
There
is a sacrosanct principle behind this opprobrium: You do not betray an
electoral verdict that had taken decades to forge.
Source:
Free Malaysia Today
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Singapore
to execute another Malaysian next Friday
Predeep
Nambiar
April
22, 2022
GEORGE
TOWN: Another Malaysian will be hanged in Singapore next Friday, according to
human rights lawyer M Ravi.
Datchinamurthy
Kataiah, 36, was charged with smuggling 44.96gm of diamorphine into Singapore
in 2011 and sentenced to death in 2015.
Ravi
claimed the upcoming execution was a contempt of court, as there was a suit
pending against the Singapore attorney-general.
This
follows the planned execution of another Malaysian, Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam,
34, next Wednesday for smuggling 42.7gm of heroin into the city state in 2019.
Nagaenthran,
from Perak, is said to have an IQ of 69 – a level recognised as a disability.
Ravi
said the suit against the Singapore attorney-general was related to an alleged
snooping by the AG over correspondences made by Datchinamurthy in prison to his
lawyers.
He
told FMT the letters, which discussed trial strategies, among others, were
discovered after the prosecution submitted them to the court during a hearing.
Ravi,
who is a spokesman for lawyer LF Violet Netto representing the inmate, said the
case would be heard on May 20.
Source:
Free Malaysia Today
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Arab World
Saudi
Family Charred To Death After Relative Sets Fire To Their House
22
April ,2022
A
Saudi family of four burned to death after a relative set fire to their house
in the city of Safwa on Thursday, according to a report.
Al
Arabiya’s correspondent reported that the perpetrator locked the father, mother
and two children in a room to prevent them from escaping.
He
then set fire to the house and ignored their pleas to let them out.
Authorities
captured the perpetrator, who was injured in the fire and was transported to a
hospital for treatment.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Syria denies contact with Turkey on rebuilding ties, calls reports 'fabricated'
23
April 2022
Syria
has strongly denied any contact with Ankara contrary to claims made by some
Turkish officials, asserting that there can be no cooperation in the fight
against terrorism with a country that aids and abets terror.
An
unnamed official at the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates in a
statement on Friday termed reports about contacts between Damascus and Ankara
as “fabricated”.
“The
fabricated news about Turkey’s high-level contacts with the Syrian government,
both at political and security levels, comes at the same time as Turkish
military forces and their allied terrorists continue their brutal attacks
against ordinary people in northern Syria,” the statement quoted the official
as saying.
The
official hastened to add that the last of such lies about the possibility of
cooperation with Syria in the fight against terrorism was made by Turkey’s
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.
“The
allegation confirms that Ankara is completely detached from realities, and the
plague of lies and hypocrisy has not only struck Turkish President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan but also all members of his administration,” he noted.
The
official in categorical terms emphasized that Syria cannot cooperate in the
fight against terrorism with a country “that sponsors, trains, and spreads
terrorism in the region and across the world.”
Earlier
this month, Turkish media reported that Ankara was assessing the possibility of
initiating talks with the Syrian government and that discussions were underway
for new relations to be forged between the two neighbors.
Turkey's
Hurriyet newspaper, citing informed sources, said on April 4 that discussions
were taking place in the Turkish capital of Ankara on restoring diplomatic
relations between the two sides.
“The
balanced policy recently adopted by Turkey and the role that Ankara has played
in recent months, especially in resolving the war in Ukraine, have made the
current time appropriate for resolving the Syrian crisis,” the Turkish daily
said.
Citing
sources, the paper said relations between Damascus and Ankara can improve and
that the current situation may open a new door of opportunities for Turkey,
especially for resolving the Syrian issue and the question of the militants of
the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Hurriyet
said Ankara was insisting on three issues, which include maintaining the
unified structure and territorial integrity of Syria, ensuring the security of
refugees returning to their country, and the PKK’s activities.
Turkey
has deployed its forces in Syria in violation of the Arab country's sovereignty
and territorial integrity.
Ankara-backed
militants were deployed to northeastern Syria in October 2019 after Turkish
military forces launched a long-threatened cross-border invasion in a declared
attempt to push fighters of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) away
from border areas.
Ankara
views the US-backed YPG as a terrorist organization tied to the homegrown
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been seeking an autonomous Kurdish
region in Turkey since 1984.
Source:
Press TV
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--------
Sudden exchange rate turmoil angers Lebanese ahead of parliamentary elections
April
22, 2022
BEIRUT:
A sudden upheaval in Lebanon's exchange rate has angered people ahead of
parliamentary elections.
Economist
Louis Hobeika said the turmoil should motivate people to “vote for change and
not re-elect those in power.”
He
told Arab News that the ruling parties had all the time they needed to issue
laws but did nothing.
The
Lebanese pound hit a sudden low, trading at LBP28,000 to the dollar on Friday,
with the country on official holidays until Tuesday for Orthodox Easter.
The
exchange rate turmoil caused a clamor in the markets, as people said on social
media that shop owners had already started pricing goods based on a rate of
LBP30,000 to the dollar.
Protesters
cut off the southern highway with burning tires, denouncing the deteriorating
living conditions, Lebanon’s National News agency reported.
Electricite
du Liban, the state-owned electricity supplier, said on Thursday that the Deir
Ammar power plant had shut down. The Zahrani power plant shut down last week,
leaving the Lebanese with no electricity supply until a ship carrying a fuel
delivery is unloaded and tested.
Subscription
fees for private generators that are charged in dollars continue to rise.
The
two plants depend exclusively on Iraqi fuel as part of an agreement concluded
between the two countries last August.
The
state is unable to secure dollars to import additional quantities of fuel,
while the agreement to draw electricity from Jordan and gas from Egypt is yet
to be implemented.
According
to the agreement with Iraq, every month only one shipment of 40,000 tons of gas
oil is supplied to Lebanon, for the benefit of EDL.
The
agreement expires in September, and EDL had pledged to ensure “a minimum level
of stability in electricity supply, until May 18,” that is after the
parliamentary elections on May 15.
Lebanon
was supposed to start importing electricity and gas from Jordan and Egypt in
March, but the implementation was delayed due to the World Bank's failure to
finance the two agreements.
Energy
Minister Walid Fayyad said he had not been officially notified by the World
Bank of the decision to delay funding.
“We
are constantly contacting the World Bank and the US ambassador to Lebanon,
Dorothy Shea, and her French counterpart Anne Grillo, and the ball is now in
the court of the US administration and the World Bank to begin formal
negotiations, which is an essential stage for financing,” Fayyad said on
Thursday.
On
Friday, the US-based Al-Hurra TV channel quoted a State Department spokesperson
as saying that the government was awaiting final contracts and financing terms
from the parties to ensure the gas and electricity projects complied with US
policy and address any potential sanctions concerns.
Egyptian
gas will be pumped to Lebanon via Jordan as well as Syria, which is subject to
US sanctions under the Caesar Act.
Hobeika
said the “political confusion and failure to find solutions to the problems at
hand, naturally leads to chaos again.”
He
added that all signs indicated that Lebanon was further deteriorating,
including the value of the national currency.
“There
is a clear political inability to find solutions and deal with reality, and the
best evidence is the chaos and sub-standard effort that happened in the
Parliament session that was held to discuss the capital control bill.
“We
are only three weeks away from the parliamentary elections, and such
discussions should be postponed until the elections are held. Until then, chaos
will prevail, and the national currency will further depreciate.
Source:
Arab News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2068786/middle-east
--------
Africa
Jordan
king urges unity to stop escalations in Jerusalem during Arab League meeting
April
22, 2022
RIYADH:
Jordan’s King Abdullah on Thursday stressed the need to unify, coordinate, and
step up Arab efforts to halt escalations in Jerusalem, again urging Israel to
respect the historical and legal status quo in Al-Aqsa Mosque and safeguard the
rights of Muslim worshippers.
Speaking
during a meeting of the Arab League ministerial committee tasked with
galvanizing international action to counter illegal Israeli measures in
Jerusalem, the monarch expressed appreciation for Arab leaders’ stances in
calling for calm in the Palestinian territories, and in supporting the
steadfastness of the Palestinian people, as well as the Hashemite
Custodianship.
He
urged further efforts to prevent the recurrence of any form of escalation,
state news agency Petra reported.
An
upsurge of violence in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories in
recent weeks has raised fears of a slide back to wider conflict.
Saudi
Arabia’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Waleed Al-Khuraiji participated in
the work of the fourth emergency meeting in the capital, Amman, on behalf of
Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, the Saudi Press Agency said.
The
committee is chaired by Jordan and includes Saudi Arabia, Tunisia — the
president of the Arab League’s current cycle — Algeria, Palestine, Qatar,
Egypt, and Morocco.
Arab
League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit also took part in the meeting, along
with the UAE, as the Arab country which is currently a non-permanent member of
the UN Security Council.
The
meeting discussed ways to confront the dangerous Israeli escalation in the
Al-Aqsa Mosque, and to solidify a joint action to stop the Israeli attacks and
violations of the holy sites, halt the violence, and restore comprehensive
calm.
The
committee also called on the international community, especially the UN
Security Council, to take immediate and effective action to stop the illegal
and provocative Israeli practices in Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in order
to protect international law and the UN Charter, prevent an exacerbation of the
wave of violence, and maintain security and peace.
The
committee issued a final statement in which it stressed its condemnation of the
Israeli attacks and violations against worshippers in Al-Aqsa Mosque. The
committee also warned that the attacks and violations were a flagrant
provocation to Muslims everywhere.
Source:
Arab News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2068671/middle-east
--------
Qaeda-linked
group attacks Somali parliament with mortars as MPs meet
18
April 2022
Somalia's
parliament came under mortar fire on Monday as the country's newly elected
lawmakers were meeting for only the second time since taking office, an attack
claimed by the al-Shabaab militant group.
Several
people were reportedly injured but no lawmakers were harmed when several rounds
of mortar shells landed near parliament in the heavily fortified compound in
the capital Mogadishu, officials and a witness said.
The
attack occurred as lawmakers were setting dates for parliamentary ballots to
choose speakers for the lower and upper house the next stage in a stuttering
process to elect the fragile nation's new president.
The
new members of the Senate and the House of the People were sworn in on Thursday
after elections held more than a year behind schedule that were marred by
deadly violence and a power struggle between the current president and the
prime minister.
The
upper house will vote on April 26 to choose a speaker, with the lower house choosing
its president the following day, officials said.
As
Monday's parliamentary session was being streamed live on television several
explosions were heard and lawmakers were told to stay inside.
"We
have no details yet but these explosions were caused by mortar fire, the
legislators were safe and unharmed inside the building when the incident
occurred," a security officer who asked not to be named told AFP.
“I
was in the area when the mortar shells landed outside the building where the
parliamentarians were meeting, several people were wounded lightly in one of
the blasts,” witness Abdukadir Ali said.
Al-Shabaab,
the al-Qaeda-linked group that has been waging an insurgency against the
central government for more than a decade, claimed responsibility for the
attack in a brief statement.
The
UN mission in Somalia UNSOM issued a statement condemning the mortar attack.
It
said it "stands firm with Somalis in their efforts to complete the
electoral process and progress on national priorities."
Some
parliamentary seats remain unfilled but sufficient lawmakers have been sworn in
to move the election process forward.
So
far, 297 have taken the oath of office, from a possible 329 members for both
houses.
Somalia
has not held a one-person, one-vote election in 50 years.
Source:
Press TV
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Tunisia
president decrees he will name electoral chief
22
April ,2022
Tunisian
President Kais Saied on Friday assigned himself the power to appoint the head
of the electoral commission.
Saied,
according to an official decree, will now have the power to name three of the
seven members of the electoral commission, known by its acronym ISIE, including
its president.
The
former law professor, elected in 2019 amid public anger against the political
class, sacked the government on July 25 last year.
The
election commission, created in 2012, has currently nine members with its
president appointed by parliament.
Saied
dissolved parliament last month.
ISIE’s
current president, Nabil Baffoun, is a critic of Saied and has warned that any
change in the commission composition by presidential decree would be
“unlawful.”
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
North America
US
'welcomes' NSC statement saying no 'foreign conspiracy' to oust Imran
April
23, 2022
US
State Department deputy spokesperson Jalina Porter has said that the United
States welcomed the statement issued by Pakistan's National Security Committee
(NSC) a day ago wherein it dismissed an impression of a "foreign
conspiracy" to topple the Imran Khan-led government.
The
senior US official made this statement during a press briefing in response to a
question from a journalist.
"Today,
the newly elected prime minster of Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif, chaired the
meeting of national security committee and senior military and civil officers
attended that. And this meeting was to — about Imran Khan’s allegation of US
government. So the press release we got, it states that the (inaudible)
concludes that there has been no foreign conspiracy. How do you see this?"
the journalist had asked.
"...
We welcome this statement," Porter replied.
The
NSC — which is chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and includes the army
and ISI chief — had met on Friday and discussed the "telegram received
from the Pakistan embassy in Washington".
According
to the statement issued by the body, Pakistan's former ambassador to the US Asad
Majeed, who was also in attendance, briefed the committee on the context and
content of his telegram. "The NSC was again informed by the premier
security agencies that they have found no evidence of any conspiracy," it
had said, adding that the meeting concluded that "there has been no
foreign conspiracy".
It
had, however, also "reaffirmed the decisions of the last NSC
meeting". In March, the committee had decided to issue a "strong
demarche" to a country, that it did not name, over what it said was
"blatant interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan".
At
a press briefing on Saturday, Porter dismissed the accusations leveled by
Imran, saying "there’s absolutely no truth to those rumours, so we welcome
this statement."
"And
I would also like to underscore that the United States values our longstanding
cooperation with Pakistan and has always viewed a strong, prosperous, and
democratic Pakistan as critical to US interests," the senior official
added.
Earlier,
the US had also agreed with military spokesman Maj Gen Babar Iftikhar's
statement in which he said that the NSC had in its first statement on the
‘cablegate’, unlike some political pronouncement by the PTI leaders, did not
use the word “conspiracy”.
The
Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General (DG) had said that the
military’s stance on the cable was formulated after a thorough investigation by
an intelligence agency.
Cablegate
The
controversy surrounding the no-confidence motion against the former premier
Imran Khan took a dramatic turn when the embattled PM brandished a letter at a
rally on March 27 — days before his ouster, claiming it contained evidence of a
"foreign conspiracy" hatched to topple his government.
Imran
had kept a mum about the contents of the letter when he first unveiled it,
however, he spilled the beans days later by naming the United States when the
exit of the government appeared imminent.
Imran's
allegation that the US spearheaded his exit from power was based on a cable
received from Pakistan's Ambassador to the US, Asad Majeed, in which he had
reported about a meeting with Assistant Secretary of State for South and
Central Asia Affairs Donald Lu.
Majeed
had reportedly said that Donald Lu warned that Imran Khan’s continuation in
office, who was set to face a vote of no confidence, would have repercussions
on bilateral relations. The US was said to be annoyed with Imran over his
"independent foreign policy" and visit to Moscow.
The
Pentagon and the State Department have rejected the accusations, saying there
was no veracity to it.
The
National Security Committee (NSC), which includes all services chiefs as well
as the head of Pakistan's top intelligence agency, took up the matter on March
31 and decided to issue a "strong demarche" to a country that it did
not name over what was termed “blatant interference in the internal affairs of
Pakistan”.
Source:
Dawn
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
US
official urges Iraqi parties to expedite government formation
April
22, 2022
WASHINGTON:
A US official on Friday called on all Iraqi parties to work together and form a
new government to prevent Iraq from sliding into instability and insecurity.
In
a press briefing attended by Arab News, Jennifer Gavito, deputy assistant
secretary of state for Iraq and Iran, said it is critical that Iraqi parties
work together so the US can continue to implement the strategic framework
agreement with Iraq in support of its armed forces, economy and health sector.
Iraq
held national elections last October in which Shiite cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr’s
camp won 73 out 329 seats in Parliament, making it the largest single political
bloc.
Other
Shiite groups, especially the Fateh alliance that is affiliated with the
Iran-backed Hashd Al-Shaabi militias, refused to concede defeat and contested
the elections, preventing efforts to form a government.
“The
current delaying of government formation is delaying our progress on bilateral
issues and on all sectors including security, economy and cultural issues,”
Gavito said.
“Once
the government is formed, we’re looking forward to working with our Iraqi
partners to implement our strategic framework agreement and continue to support
the Iraqi armed forces to defeat ISIS (Daesh).”
Gavito
said she traveled last month to Baghdad and Iraqi Kurdistan, meeting with
government and business leaders.
She
added that she discussed important legal and political reforms that would help
attract major US corporations in the energy and health sectors. “We’re
committed to helping strengthen Iraqi sovereignty and democracy,” Gavito said.
She
added that the US government is eager to work with a new Iraqi government on
key issues of mutual interest such as economic empowerment for all Iraqis,
anti-corruption measures and human rights protections.
Gavito
said the US government does not have a position on which personalities should
be involved in government formation, as that is up to Iraqis.
She
added that security cooperation between the US and Iraq is ongoing, especially
in terms of combating Daesh.
Source:
Arab News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2068776/middle-east
--------
White
House briefing emphasizes commitment to race equity, including for Arab
Americans
April
23, 2022
CHICAGO:
The White House has hosted an online briefing for Arab American community
organizations and their members to emphasize US President Joe Biden’s
commitment to equality, especially noting the inclusion of Arab Americans as
part of the administration’s recognition of Arab American Heritage Month.
Of
the seven speakers who briefed attendees on their department services, four
were Arab American. They included moderator Dana Shubat, White House Deputy
Assistant to the President and Deputy Director for Legislative Affairs Reema
Dodin, USAID Director of Public Engagement Fayrouz Saad, and Department of
Homeland Security Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Brenda Abdelall.
The
virtual program on Friday, attended by Arab News and coordinated by the
American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, also featured White House Deputy
Director of Racial and Economic Justice Jamie Keene, and Deputy Assistant
Attorney General for Civil Rights for the Department of Justice Jonathan Smith.
Although
there was no opportunity for questions during the 38-minute teleconference,
each speaker provided a summary of their duties and stressed the importance of
including Arab Americans in addressing issues of diversity, discrimination and
equality.
Shubat
explained that the session was “all about equity and the work being done in
their respective agencies,” with Keene offering a detailed overview of all that
is being done.
Keene
said that on his first day in office, US President Joe Biden signed Executive
Order 13985 that directed the federal government to advance “equity for
underserved communities,” which includes Arab Americans.
“It
acknowledged that advancing equities requires an intersectional approach and a
focus on communities of color, communities that face religious discrimination,
women and girls, LGBTQI-plus people, people of disabilities, and communities
across our country who continue to face intolerable levels of persistent
poverty and discrimination,” Keene said.
“That
approach of course includes a central focus on Arab American communities who we
know face persistent barriers to full inclusion and opportunities in our
nation.”
Those
areas of “Equity Action” in Biden’s executive order cover more than 25 federal
government agencies and include: Economic justice, education, environmental
justice, civil rights, health, criminal justice, housing justice and community
investment, and global equity.
“Our
nation has to address the unacceptable costs of systemic racism, and that by
advancing equity for all communities including Arab American communities we can
build a nation that is more prosperous and more secure for all of us,” Keene
said.
Biden
directed each agency to evaluate their work to see how their major policies and
programs might be perpetuating the historic exclusion of underserved
communities and communities of color from full participation, including Arab
Americans.
Each
department has developed an “Equity Action Plan,” most of which can be read
online at a new White House website: WhitHouse.gov/equity.
For
example, Keene said, the Department of Homeland Security has announced new
steps to mitigate bias and discrimination in the way travelers are treated at
the nation’s airports.
“We
know this has outsized impact and importance in Arab American communities,”
Keene said.
The
Equity Action Plans also address domestic violence, rooting out discrimination
in unemployment insurance against women of color and other minority groups.
Another example is how the Environmental Protection Agency has announced new
steps to reinvigorate their civil rights enforcement. Often pollution had a
higher burden on low-income and minority communities, Keene said.
Shubat
emphasized that one of Biden’s main priorities was to have a “diverse workforce
and diverse staff” working for the president in all of the federal agencies and
in the White House.
“It
is really great to be able share with you that 30 percent of agency appointees
are naturalized citizens or children of immigrants,” Shubat said.
“I
know there are lots of children of immigrants on this call, myself being one of
them.”
Biden
has appointed two dozen Arab Americans to mid-level and deputy positions in the
White House and at the State Department.
Source:
Arab News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2068941/world
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