'Bangladesh is an example': If Hindus are safe, then Muslims are also safe, says Yogi Adityanath

New Age Islam News Bureau

26 March 2025

UP. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath

---------

·         'Bangladesh is an example': If Hindus are safe, then Muslims are also safe, says Yogi Adityanath

·         KP action plan to give civilian agencies lead role in counterterrorism efforts

·         UAE president discusses Gaza with Donald Trump, reviews recent bilateral agreements

·         Saudi Arabia condemns Israel attack in Syria that killed civilians

·         Russia and Ukraine agree naval ceasefire in Black Sea

·         Texas Govt Investigating Alleged Pro-Sharia ‘Muslim City’ Project.

·         Sudan army denies killing civilians in market attack

·         KL temple relocation to make way for mosque to proceed following heated debate

·         Taliban requests handover of Afghanistan Embassy in Washington during US Delegation meeting

-----

India

·         'Jitne bhi honge sab dhundenge': UP CM Yogi Adityanath vows to revive temples in Sambhal

·         Aurangzeb is politics, not history. Indian Muslims must bury his ghost

·         Centre might need to do business with J&K’s mainstream parties. Even if it’s painful for Modi

·         Maharashtra witnesses surge in communal unrest with 823 incidents reported in 75 days

·         Congress MLA in J&K protests over civilian killings in Palestine

·         Delhi HC reserves order on Engineer Rashid’s plea to attend Parliament in custody

·         Renowned cancer surgeon Dr Majid Ahmed Talikoti made Honorary Health Commissioner by India-GCC Trade Council

·         Sambhal: Family Claims Mosque Committee President Faces Life Threat In Jail

·         Karnataka firm on implementing Muslim quota in govt contracts

·         BJP to distribute ‘Saugat-e-Modi’ kits to people from Muslim, Sikh and Christian communities

·         Did Rajput king Rana Sanga invite Babur to invade India, sow seeds of Mughal rule?

·         Sole Muslim MLA in Gujarat seeks speaker’s protection from ‘insulting’ references to him

-------

Pakistan

·         YouTuber Rajab Butt booked under blasphemy, Peca laws over ‘religious stir’ caused by perfume launch

·         Opposition leaders challenge delay in picking new chief election commissioner

·         CM Bugti sees governance issues behind terrorism

·         Sammi, 4 others detained in Karachi for a month under MPO

·         BYC leader Sammi Deen detained under MPO after Karachi court orders release

·         PTI to hold protest at Adiala jail over Eid

·         Journalist Farhan Mallick sent to Karachi jail over alleged ‘anti-state’ content

·         Edhi Foundation funds $4m equipment at Karachi’s JPMC for free breast cancer treatment

·         EU-Pakistan business forum set to take place in May

·         Govt accepts Bilawal's offer to mediate with PTI

·         Four 'facilitators' of Jaffar Express attack arrested: CTD sources

·         Saddar's 500-vehicle parking facility to open after Eid, says Mayor Wahab

-------

Mideast

·         What the collapse of the Gaza ceasefire means for Palestinian civilians

·         Anti-Hamas slogans chanted at hundreds-strong protest in Gaza

·         Syria slams ‘flagrant’ Israeli violation after deadly bombardment

·         Israel army kills Palestinian identified as Hamas fighter in West Bank

·         Islamic Jihad Movement: Occupation's renewed targeting of journalists reflects deliberate bloody approach

·         Turkiye, US want to lift defense industry restrictions after talks, Turkish source says

·         100,000 Palestinians perform prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque

·         UN officials call for ‘fast and broad’ easing of sanctions as Syria faces fragile transition

·         Turkiye protesters fill streets, defying crackdown

·         A sense of ease in new Syria after iron-fisted Assad rule

·         Martyr Abu Abdul team advances to Hajjah Ramadan football final

·         Sunni voice: Iraq’s Diyala chairman resignation hinges on fair share

------

Arab World

·         Saudi Arabia cracks down on non-compliant Umrah transport

·         Over 17 million iftar meals served at Two Holy Mosques during 21 days of Ramadan

·         White House thanks Saudi crown prince for facilitating Russia and Ukraine talks

·         Governor opens new Altanfeethi Lounge at Madinah airport

·         KSrelief expands food aid across global crisis zones

·         Saudi Arabia gears up for Saudi Green Initiative Day on March 27

·         Saudi Arabia tightens security on Mecca, Medina roads

------

Europe

·         The long, slow road to a ceasefire, with no guarantee of success

·         EU airline wants to resume flights to Ukraine

·         Wokingham: Calls for more space for Muslims during Ramadan

·         Weston Secondary School to excuse students for Eid al-Fitr

·         Reeves to make new welfare cuts in Spring Statement

·         Government concerns over assisted dying timeline

·         Heathrow substation fire not suspicious, police say

·         Sussex university fined £585k in free speech row

·         Sarah Everard's family calls for harsher sentences

·         Apology over delay to maternity report publication

·         New Islamic community centre approved by council

------

North America

·         Trump and intelligence chiefs play down Signal group chat leak

·         US drops bounties on key Taliban leaders

·         Bronx mosques face crime during Ramadan

·         CAIR Releases Webinar ‘Unconstitutional Crackdowns: Protecting Your Green Cards, Visas, and Free Speech Rights’ Attended by Over 2,000

·         CAIR Community Advisory: Join March on Washington for Palestine on April 5

·         UMN cultural group, Muslim student group serve Ramadan meals amidst space issues

·         Disdain for Europe in US Signal chat horrifies EU

·         Trump signs order aimed at overhauling US elections

·         Columbia student protester sues Trump to stop deportation

·         JD Vance will join wife on Greenland trip

------

Africa

·         UN rights commissioner condemns mosque attack in Niger

·         Ramadan: Oyebanji Assures Muslims Of Appointments In Strategic Positions

·         How ASP Allegedly Killed Police Inspector Reported To Have Committed Suicide – Sources

·         At least 54 killed in Sudanese military airstrike on market

·         Ramadan: FG Expected To Declare March 31st, April 1st As Public Holiday

·         Nigeria’s Unstable North-West

·         CS Muturi was an 'incompetent' AG, says Ruto

·         GES grants Muslim students break for Eid-ul-Fitr celebrations

·         Shettima, Atiku, Buhari Condole With Gov. Radda Over Mother’s Death

·         Reps seek NJC’s input in judges’ removal

·         Afenifere Slams National Assembly For Backing State Of Emergency In Rivers State

·         Bill To Stop President, Governors’ From Proclaiming New Legislatures Passes Second Reading

------

Southeast Asia

·         What’s in a name? NRD says modern spellings like Ameer and Zahra on the rise, but classics like Muhammad and Siti endure

·         Govt readies 6,291 mosques to support Eid homecoming exodus

·         Local productions must ensure works align with Islamic faith - Mohd Na’im

·         Man arrested for allegedly uploading offensive post on Islam

·         Seremban mosque security footage shows man prying open donation box, police probe underway

·         No vested interest, Malaysia Aviation Group’s purchase of Boeing above board, says finance minister’s pol-sec

------

South Asia

·         Cabinet Meeting of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Held in Kabul

·         8 among ring leader held for railway ticket black marketing

·         DUJ faction demands 6-day Eid holiday

·         There is no such thing as a 'second independence': Mirza Abbas

·         Trump Administration halts Green Card Processing for additional vetting

·         NRC halts some of its Aid Activities in Afghanistan

·         MoU Signed to Provide Ramadan Aid to Destitute Families

·         Police Iftar event brings together key figures and officers

Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau

URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/bangladesh-hindus-muslims-example/d/134985

-----

'Bangladesh is an example': If Hindus are safe, then Muslims are also safe, says Yogi Adityanath

Mar 26, 2025

UP. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath

--------

NEW DELHI: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath assured that people of all religions are safe in his state during an interview. He emphasized that Muslims are equally safe as Hindus in Uttar Pradesh while discussing religious harmony, safety concerns, and the state's law and order situation.

The chief minister addressed the safety of religious communities by comparing scenarios of coexistence between Hindu and Muslim families.

"A Muslim family is the safest among a hundred Hindu families. They will have the freedom to practice all their religious deeds. But can 50 Hindus be safe among 100 Muslim families? No. Bangladesh is an example. Before this, Pakistan was an example. What happened in Afghanistan? If there is smoke or someone is being hit, we should be careful before we get hit. That is what needs to be taken care of," Yogi said.

He highlighted that communal riots in Uttar Pradesh have ceased since the BJP came to power in 2017.

"In Uttar Pradesh, Muslims are the safest. If Hindus are safe, then they are also safe. If there were riots here in UP before 2017, if Hindu shops were burning, then Muslim shops were also burning. If Hindu houses were burning, then Muslim houses were also burning. And after 2017, the riots stopped," he stated.

Adityanath expressed his commitment to serving all citizens equally.

"I am an ordinary citizen, a citizen of Uttar Pradesh. And I am a Yogi who wishes for everyone's happiness. I believe in everyone's support and development," he declared.

The chief minister spoke about Sanatan Dharma's principles and historical significance.

"Sanatan Dharma is the most ancient religion and culture in the world. You can guess from its name. Sanatan Dharma followers have not converted others to their faith. But what have they received in return? What did they gain in exchange? There is no example anywhere in the world where Hindu rulers, using their own strength, have established dominion over others. Such instances do not exist. While everyone has this mind-set--'this belongs to me, and that belongs to someone else'--which is a product of narrow and limited intellect. In contrast, for Sanatan Dharma followers, the whole world is considered a family, guided by this universal feeling," he explained.

Regarding festival management during Ram Navami and Eid, Adityanath mentioned that the administration has prepared standard operating procedures.

He referenced the violence in West Bengal during Ram Navami last year, questioning why similar control measures couldn't be implemented there.

Addressing concerns about tarpaulin coverings on mosques during Holi celebrations, the Chief Minister provided clarification.

"If you are playing with colours, it does not harm anyone's existence. You tell me. It is not like that; there are rallies during Muharram. Doesn't the shadow of their flag fall on any Hindu house near the temple? Does it make the Hindu house impure? These are strict instructions not to put anything that is not coloured. But even then, if it has fallen, then the administration is cleaning it and repainting it," he stated.

Source:indiatimes.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/bangladesh-is-an-example-if-hindus-are-safe-then-muslims-are-also-safe-says-yogi-adityanath/articleshow/119517647.cms

--------

KP action plan to give civilian agencies lead role in counterterrorism efforts

Manzoor Ali

March 26, 2025

KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur presides over a meeting where the KP government unveiled an 84-point Provincial Action Plan against terrorism, in Peshawar on March 26, 2025. — screengrab via X/GovernmentKP

--------------

• Envisions new recruitments, training, procurement of modern weapons

• Database of terrorists, facilitators to be established

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Tuesday unveiled an 84-point Provincial Action Plan against terrorism, assigning a lead role to the civil administration and law enforcement agencies in counterterrorism efforts.

The decision was finalised during a meeting chaired by KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur. Sources said that the shift towards a civilian-led counterterrorism approach follows recommendations from the military, which seeks to redeploy personnel to other security hotspots.

The action plan is structured around seven key pillars, including counterterrorism measures, political and social initiatives, legal reforms, good governance, general administrative measures, monitoring, and public awareness campaigns.

“It outlines 84 specific actions across 18 thematic areas, assigning responsibilities to relevant provincial departments and federal agencies with defined timelines,” said a statement from the office of the press secretary to the KP chief minister.

The statement said the action plan includes strengthening the state’s authority, restoring public confidence in the system through visible action against terrorists, continuation of kinetic operations against terrorists, strict enforcement of counterterrorism laws, improving public service delivery and incorporating community input in security and development matters.

Under the action plan, a comprehensive database of terrorists and their facilitators will be established, regular updates to Schedule IV and strict surveillance of individuals on the list and monthly reviews of bounty cases on wanted terrorists will be carried out. Strict disciplinary action will be taken against government employees found facilitating the terrorists.

“Fast-track capacity enhancement of police and the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD), including new recruitments, training and procurement of modern weapons and equipment, is also part of the action plan,” the statement said. “Priority projects for police infrastructure in southern and merged districts will be included in the Annual Development Programme.”

The action plan also emphasises the formulation of a policy to counter cross-border terrorism. “Furthermore, after the approval of Terms of Reference (TORs) by the federal government, a provincial delegation will engage with Afghan tribal elders for negotiations,” it said.

The federal government will also be urged to enhance diplomatic engagement with Afghanistan.

A centralised intelligence collection and sharing system will be developed, integrating local intelligence databases with provincial and federal agencies. Regular meetings of Apex Committee, Steering Committee, and Intelligence Coordination Committees at the divisional and district levels. Public Liaison Committees at police station levels will be constituted to enhance community oversight of security threats.

Action will be taken against illegal spectrum being used as funding sources for terrorism activities including smuggling of narcotics and weapons, etc. To curb smuggling of illegal items, advanced scanners and AI-based monitoring systems at transit points will be installed.

Similarly, profiling of non-custom-paid (NCP) vehicles will be completed by Aug 1, 2025, with GPS tracking for their movements.

Moreover, audit of madressahs receiving foreign funding will be carried out to ensure transparency.

Similarly, digital tracking of chemical substances used in explosives, blockchain-based monitoring of explosive material transportation, collaboration with Nadra for oversight of explosive dealers, upgrading of arms licensing software to regulate weapons sales, electronic cargo tracking system for smuggled goods and joint checkpoints at key smuggling routes are some of the main points of implementation.

Under the socioeconomic domain, key measures to be taken under the action plan include job creation and alternative livelihoods for youth in terrorism-affected areas, skill development and vocational training to integrate youth into industries, District Economic Plans for merged districts, accelerating economic zone development, and promotion of high-value alternate cash crops in merged districts with financial incentives for farmers.

The action plan also features resettlement plans for temporarily displaced populations of merged areas ensuring basic amenities in their hometowns.

“Legal reforms for effective counterterrorism include the strengthening of legal framework by reviving the Preventive Magistracy System, formulation of a coordinated system between police, judiciary, and district administration, strengthening the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism, enactment of the KP Enforcement and Regulation Act, reforms in the criminal justice system, including special trials for terrorists in anti-terrorism courts, increasing prosecution staff in anti-terrorism courts as needed, and establishment of faceless courts for security-sensitive trials,” the statement said.

As another important pillar of the action plan, public awareness and communication strategy is to be developed for counter narrative and inform and educate the citizens about government efforts in counterterrorism and development initiatives.

Regular security reviews at the district level to assess risks and propose countermeasures, developing political consensus on counterterrorism strategies and security measures are also the key features of the action plan.

Source:dawn.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.dawn.com/news/1900316/kp-action-plan-to-give-civilian-agencies-lead-role-in-counterterrorism-efforts

--------

UAE president discusses Gaza with Donald Trump, reviews recent bilateral agreements

March 26, 2025

UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan and US President Donald Trump. (Screengrab/WAM)

-----------

LONDON: The president of the UAE, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, spoke on Tuesday with his American counterpart, Donald Trump, about several Middle Eastern issues including the conflict in Gaza.

During their telephone conversation, Sheikh Mohammed reiterated the UAE’s commitment to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as the foundation for a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the region.

He also addressed the ongoing efforts to secure a lasting ceasefire agreement in Gaza and maintain regional stability, and emphasized the need for vital humanitarian aid to reach the people in the Palestinian territory, the Emirates News Agency reported.

The leaders also reviewed the outcomes of an official visit to Washington last week by the UAE’s national security adviser, Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al-Nahyan. Significant agreements between the two nations were reached during his trip in areas including artificial intelligence, advanced technology, infrastructure and energy.

Sheikh Mohammed and Trump reiterated their shared commitment to the enhancement of strategic cooperation for mutual benefit, the news agency added.

Source:arabnews.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2594854/middle-east

--------

Saudi Arabia condemns Israel attack in Syria that killed civilians

March 26, 2025

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia condemned on Wednesday an Israeli attack on Syria that killed civilians.

The Saudi Foreign Ministry statement said the Kingdom reiterates its categorical rejection of the continued attempts of the Israeli occupation authorities to undermine the security and stability of Syria and the region through their blatant and repeated violations of relevant international laws.

Syrian authorities said the attack on the village of Kuwayya killed at least 6 civilians.

The Syrian foreign ministry in a statement condemned “the continued Israeli aggression on Syrian territory, which saw a dangerous escalation in the village of Kuwayya” in the southern Daraa province.

Israel has continued its bombing campaign in Syria even after the ouster of Bashar Assad, whose rule came to an end last year after a swift rebel advance led to him fleeing to Russia.

Source:arabnews.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2594857/saudi-arabia

-------

Russia and Ukraine agree naval ceasefire in Black Sea

March 26, 2025

Both sides agreed to end military activity in the Black Sea, the US said (file photo)

---------

Russia and Ukraine have agreed to a naval ceasefire in the Black Sea in separate deals with the US, after three days of peace talks in Saudi Arabia.

Washington said all parties would continue working toward a "durable and lasting peace" in statements announcing the agreements, which would reopen an important trade route.

They have also committed to "develop measures" to implement a previously agreed ban on attacking each other's energy infrastructure, the White House said.

But Russia said the naval ceasefire would only come into force after a number of sanctions against its food and fertiliser trade were lifted.

US officials have been separately meeting negotiators from Moscow and Kyiv in Riyadh with the aim of brokering a truce between the two sides. The Russian and Ukrainian delegations have not met directly.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the deal to halt strikes in the Black Sea was a step in the right direction.

"It is too early to say that it will work, but these were the right meetings, the right decisions, the right steps," he told a press conference in Kyiv.

"No-one can accuse Ukraine of not moving towards sustainable peace after this," he added, after US President Donald Trump had previously accused him of blocking a peace deal.

But shortly after Washington's announcement, the Kremlin said the Black Sea ceasefire would not take effect until sanctions were lifted from Russian banks, producers and exporters involved in the international food and fertiliser trades.

The measures demanded by Russia include reconnecting the banks concerned to the SwiftPay payment system, lifting restrictions on servicing ships under the Russian flag involved in the food trade, and on the supply of agricultural machinery and other goods needed for the production of food.

It was unclear from the White House's statement when the agreement is meant to come into force.

When asked about lifting the sanctions, Trump told reporters: "We're thinking about all of them right now. We're looking at them."

Washington's statement on the US-Russia talks does say the US will "help restore Russia's access to the world market for agricultural and fertiliser exports".

Speaking in Kyiv, Zelensky described this as a "weakening of positions".

He also said Ukraine would push for further sanctions on Russia and more military support from the US if Moscow reneged on its commitments.

Later, in his nightly address to Ukrainians, Zelensky accused the Kremlin of lying when it said the Black Sea ceasefire depended on sanctions being lifted.

Ukraine's Defence Minister Rustem Umerov said "third countries" could oversee parts of the deal.

But he warned that the movement of Russian warships beyond the "eastern part of the Black Sea" would be treated as a violation of the agreement and a "threat to the national security of Ukraine".

"In this case Ukraine will have full right to exercise right to self-defence," he added.

A previous arrangement allowing safe passage of commercial ships in the Black Sea was agreed in 2022, after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February of that year.

Both Ukraine and Russia are major grain exporters, and prices rocketed after the start of the war.

The "Black Sea grain deal" was put in place to allow cargo ships travelling to and from Ukraine to safely navigate without being attacked by Russia.

The deal facilitated the movement of grain, sunflower oil and other products required for food production, such as fertiliser, through the Black Sea.

It was initially in place for a period of 120 days but, after multiple extensions, Russia pulled out in July 2023, claiming key parts of the agreement had not been implemented.

After this week's talks, both countries have also agreed to "develop measures" to implement a ban on attacking energy infrastructure on each other's territory.

Russian strikes on Ukraine's power supply have caused widespread blackouts throughout the war, leaving thousands of people without heating in the cold of winter.

Attacks on Ukraine's nuclear power stations have led the UN's atomic watchdog to call for restraint.

A ban was initially agreed in a call between Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin last week, but within hours of it being announced, both Moscow and Kyiv accused the other of breaching it.

Earlier on Tuesday, Moscow said Ukraine had continued to target Russia's civilian energy infrastructure while the peace talks in Riyadh were under way.

The alleged attack showed Zelensky was "incapable of sticking to agreements", Russia's defence ministry said.

It came after Russia launched a missile strike targeting north-eastern Ukraine on Monday, leaving more than 100 people wounded in the city of Sumy.

On Tuesday morning, Ukraine said Russia launched some 139 drones and one ballistic missile overnight.

Up to 30 Russian troops were killed in an air strike on military infrastructure in Kursk, Kyiv added.

Source:bbc.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y2nvezdnwo

---------

Texas Govt Investigating Alleged Pro-Sharia ‘Muslim City’ Project.

March 26, 2025

The Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, has announced that multiple state agencies are investigating a project to create a “Muslim city” in the state, with some fearing that Sharia law may be applied within the settlement. The East Plano Islamic Center (EPIC) is behind the project, dubbed “EPIC City,” which plans to create a new city in Collin and Hunt Counties.Governor Abbott stated on social media platform X that the project has “serious legal issues,” announcing: “A dozen state agencies are investigating it, the Attorney General will look into it, and legislators are considering laws to restrict it, as well as laws to prevent foreign adversaries from buying land in Texas.”

The project was initially announced in February, with the organizers arguing that while the settlement will be Muslim, it will be integrated. Governor Abbott reacted to the project by stating, “To be clear, Sharia law is not allowed in Texas. Nor are Sharia cities. Nor are ‘no go zones’ which this project seems to imply.”Raheem Kassam, Editor-in-Chief of The National Pulse, warned that such areas would emerge in the U.S. and Europe as early as 2017. Muslim-majority cities and towns already exist in some parts of the United States, such as Hamtramck, Michigan. Hamtramck’s mayor infamously declared there would be “no peace” with Israel just days after the October 2023 massacres by Hamas in Israel.

Source:thenationalpulse.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://thenationalpulse.com/2025/03/25/texas-govt-investigating-alleged-pro-sharia-muslim-city-project/

-------

Sudan army denies killing civilians in market attack

March 26, 2025

KHARTOUM: Sudan’s regular army denied targeting civilians on Tuesday after at least 270 people died in an airstrike on a market in Tora in North Darfur.

“False claims such as this arise whenever our forces exercise their constitutional and legitimate right to engage hostile targets,” military spokesman Nabil Abdallah said. “We abide in our air strikes by the rules of targeting in accordance with international law, and we absolutely cannot target innocent civilians.”

The army has been fighting the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces since April 2023, and both sides have been accused of war crimes. The conflict has killed at least 150,000 people and displaced about 12 million.

The strike in Darfur came days after the army reclaimed the presidential palace in Khartoum in a major victory over the paramilitaries. North Darfur state capital El-Fasher, 40 km south of Tora, is the only regional state capital the Rapid Support Forces have not captured, despite besieging the city for ten months and regularly attacking the displacement camps that surround it.

Source:arabnews.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2594863/middle-east

--------

KL temple relocation to make way for mosque to proceed following heated debate

MAR 25, 2025

 A Hindu temple in Malaysia’s capital will be relocated to a site just 50m away following a heated debate over its fate, as a new mosque will be built on its site. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim himself is slated to lay the foundation stone for the mosque on March 27.

The Dewi Sri Pathra Kaliamman Temple is located in Jalan Masjid India, a popular shopping district in downtown Kuala Lumpur that grabbed headlines in August 2024 when an Indian tourist fell into a sinkhole. Her remains were not found despite a nine-day search.

The temple issue has galvanised Hindus who want the modest 130-year-old house of worship to be retained, with rights groups raising questions about religious freedom, legal authority and cultural preservation.

On the other side of the debate are Muslims who want the new mosque built, and others who argue that the temple was built illegally on public land. The land is currently owned by textile company Jakel Group.

The issue has also taken on an anti-government tone, as critics of Datuk Seri Anwar see him as taking an increasingly strident pro-Malay Muslim stance. He has been trying to win over Malay voters, who largely avoided his Pakatan Harapan coalition in the November 2022 General Election.

The Jakel Group, known for its wide array of fabrics and Malay garments, told its critics last week that it has been in negotiations with the temple’s management for years to relocate the building. The textile company bought the 12,000 sq ft land from Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) in 2012.

On March 25, a temple official and the Malaysian government announced that the Hindu house of worship will be moved 50m away. Temple secretary Karthik Gunaseelan said the relocation deal was reached after negotiations with DBKL on March 24.

“We thank the ministers, elected representatives and the authorities who assisted in reaching this resolution. The new site is nearby and within Jalan Masjid India,” he was quoted as saying by The Star news website.

Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo said late on March 25 that the land will be gazetted in the name of the temple committee, in accordance with the law.

Amid the controversy, Mr Anwar raised eyebrows on March 25 by hitting out hard at his critics for politicising the issue.

He said he has been accused by “extreme Hindu groups” of “trying to Islamise everything, especially since the mosque in question is to be named Masjid Madani”. Madani, an Arabic term that roughly translates as “modern”, is a catchphrase introduced by Mr Anwar to symbolise his vision of a fair, inclusive and progressive society.

“Even my friends suggested I change the mosque’s name, but what kind of cowardly leader would I be if I did that?” he told the March 25 gathering of mostly Malay civil servants.

“Some people do not want to use the term ‘illegal’. It’s okay, it is just a term. But the temple did not get permission from the landowner, be it city hall, its previous owner, or the company that owns it now. So, our country has laws, and we have to follow the laws,” he added.

“But because we want to maintain a good relationship between the ethnic groups in this country, we are doing something that we did not have to do, which is to engage in peaceful negotiation, because this is their (Hindus) house of worship and (it) should be relocated properly.”

Associate Professor Mazlan Ali, a lecturer at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia’s Faculty of Social Science and Humanities, told The Straits Times: “The issue is law-related. The land is private land. The plan to build a mosque had been made a long time ago. The authorities can take action if houses of worship are built illegally.

“In Malaysia, these issues are played up by politicians. Religious and racial issues are very sensitive in Malaysia and should be resolved through discussions.”

Lawmaker Hassan Abdul Karim, from Mr Anwar’s Parti Keadilan Rakyat, called on March 23 for the issue to be resolved “fairly and prudently”.

He suggested that the temple remain at its current site and that a new mosque be built adjacent to or near the temple to ensure that “racial and religious division can be avoided”.

Others, such as rights group Lawyers for Liberty, have also called for the temple to be allowed to coexist alongside the proposed mosque.

Former law minister Zaid Ibrahim was more direct, accusing the premier of pandering to Malay voters. “This is not about rights and legalities, but about taking care of the feelings of Muslims in the country,” he said in a post on social media platform X on March 22.

Source:straitstimes.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/kl-temple-relocation-to-make-way-for-mosque-to-proceed-following-heated-debate

--------

Taliban requests handover of Afghanistan Embassy in Washington during US Delegation meeting

By Fidel Rahmati

March 26, 2025

Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesperson for the Taliban, stated that during a meeting with an American delegation, the group requested the handover of Afghanistan’s embassy in Washington, D.C.

Mujahid, in an interview with Al Arabiya on Tuesday, March 25, 2025, also mentioned that the Taliban had asked the U.S. delegation to reopen its embassy in Kabul. This request comes amid ongoing diplomatic tensions between the two sides, following the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan.

According to Al Arabiya’s report, the Taliban is currently awaiting a response from the U.S. delegation regarding their demands. This exchange signals continued negotiations between the two parties despite the significant challenges in establishing formal relations.

The Taliban spokesperson also highlighted the removal of the group’s leaders from the U.S. government’s most-wanted list as a positive step. This change, which could ease some tensions, is seen as a move towards potential engagement with the international community.

Last week, a U.S. delegation visited Kabul, marking the first such visit since the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan. During this visit, George Goldsmith, an American citizen, was released from Taliban custody, marking a rare success in prisoner negotiations.

However, despite the release of Goldsmith, American citizens remain detained in Taliban prisons. This issue continues to be a source of tension between the U.S. and the Taliban, with the fate of these detainees largely unresolved.

The situation in Afghanistan remains volatile, with many human rights organizations continuing to report violations and a lack of access to justice for detainees. The international community has called for further action to address these issues.

Despite the ongoing challenges, U.S. Secretary of State previously mentioned that the U.S. and the Taliban are cooperating on intelligence matters related to countering the Islamic State (ISIS). This cooperation reflects the complexity of the situation, where adversarial relations coexist with shared security concerns.

The Taliban’s request for the reopening of the U.S. embassy in Kabul and the handover of the Afghanistan embassy in Washington signals the group’s desire for international recognition. This request comes at a time when Afghanistan remains largely isolated from global diplomatic processes, and the Taliban has still not been officially recognized by any countries.

The ongoing diplomatic exchanges between the Taliban and the U.S. reflect the complexities of the relationship between the two parties. While there are some positive developments, such as the release of prisoners, many challenges remain, including the unresolved status of American detainees and the Taliban’s international standing. The coming weeks may prove crucial in determining the trajectory of these interactions.

Source:khaama.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.khaama.com/taliban-requests-handover-of-afghanistan-embassy-in-washington-during-us-delegation-meeting/

---------

 

India

 

'Jitne bhi honge sab dhundenge': UP CM Yogi Adityanath vows to revive temples in Sambhal

Mar 26, 2025

NEW DELHI: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath vowed to revive as many temples as present in Sambhal. He said that the authorities have till now identified more than 54 pilgrimage sites in the city, and efforts are underway to locate the remaining ones.

The chief minister highlighted that significant Sanatan Hindu Dharma locations represent India's heritage.

"Whatever it is, we will find it. We will show the world. Those whom God has given eyes, let them see. What happened in Sambhal? Sambhal is the truth," he said.

Addressing the subject of mosques constructed upon demolished Hindu temples, Adityanath noted, "Islam says that worship places constructed after destroying Hindu temples are not accepted by God. Then why were they built?""The significant sites of Sanatan Hindu Dharma are all symbols of our inheritance," he reaffirmed.

He indicated that temple restoration would continue as additional evidence surfaces. "We have identified more than 54 sites and are searching for the rest. The scientific evidence is present. We are showing where they are, and we will address them one by one."

Regarding the Mathura mosque dispute, he commented, "We are abiding by the court's decision; otherwise, who knows what could have happened by now?"

Discussing the Ghazi Salar Masood fair in Sambhal and Bahraich, he stated that aggressors have no place in contemporary India. Yogi Adityanath declared that celebrating individuals like Masood disrespects the nation.

"They should not be seen as idols, and there is no place for them in New India.

Attacks should not be celebrated. We must also recognize that these attacks were carried out by foreigners. They targeted India's faith, insulted Indian sisters and daughters, and looted the country. His glorification is an insult to the faith of Indians. By glorifying him, we dishonour the country, and I believe no one in India will accept this," the UP CM stated.

"These people supported forced religious conversions in the country," he added.

Sambhal witnessed unrest following a court-mandated survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid, a Mughal-era mosque, which led to demonstrations and police confrontations.

Recently, Zafar Ali, who leads the Jama Masjid Sadar and Shahi Mosque Committee, was detained by Uttar Pradesh Police on Sunday for questioning about the violence that occurred in Sambhal on November 24 last year.

Ali was transported to Chandausi for medical examination under strict security. His arrest follows suspected involvement in the disturbances that occurred in Sambhal during the court-ordered survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid.

Source:indiatimes.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/jitne-bhi-honge-sab-dhundenge-up-cm-yogi-adityanath-vows-to-revive-temples-in-sambhal/articleshow/119522478.cms

---------

Aurangzeb is politics, not history. Indian Muslims must bury his ghost

IBN KHALDUN BHARATI

26 March, 2025

Is there a reason why the same Hindus who added “the Great” to Akbar’s name, and who have nothing against Jahangir or Shah Jahan, nurse deep hurt and resentment against Aurangzeb?

Conversely, is there a reason why the same Muslims who are critical of Akbar for his religious policy of liberality and find nothing particularly admirable in Jahangir or Shah Jahan display a profound adoration for Aurangzeb? They revere him by adding to his name the Islamic formula for invoking god’s mercy for a soul, Rahmatullah Alaihi. His regnal name, Alamgir, is a common name in the community—certainly more common than Akbar.

Muslims, whether orthodox or Left-liberal, at the slightest of criticism, jump to Aurangzeb’s defence. The orthodox glorify him outright, while the Left-liberal ones try to explain away his policy and prejudice by citing the inevitability of political dynamics as the extenuating factor.

The reason why Hindus bear a grudge against Aurangzeb is obvious. He was a narrow–minded bigot who flouted every tenet of kingship in dealing with his Hindu subjects. He persecuted them, demolished their temples, imposed Jizya, taxed their pilgrimage and festivals, imposed discriminatory taxes on their commerce, exacted back-breaking land revenue, added insult to their injury, and rubbed salt into them. This is also why Muslims adore him.

Is there a chance that Muslims revere Aurangzeb because he gave maintenance grants to some temples or because there was a relatively higher percentage of Hindus in his nobility? Perhaps because he was a pious man who met his personal expenses by sewing caps and copying the Quran? Well, for every grant he gave to a temple, Aurangzeb demolished a dozen others. Every act of his publicised piety was outstripped by his innumerable cruelties—not sparing even his own father and brothers.

So, let’s be honest and set aside such despicable chicanery of narrativist history. Muslims venerate Aurangzeb because he showed Hindus “their place”. He was the ideal Islamic ruler—by far, the most Islamic of all the Mughal and Sultanate rulers—the only one whose name is adorned with an honorific prefix and a benedictory suffix: Hazrat Aurangzeb Rahmatullah Alaihi!

Contradictory histories

Indian Hindus and Muslims have differing and, quite often, contradictory views on history. One’s victory is the other’s defeat, and one’s heroes are the other’s villains.

Islam came to India as an invading force and remained alien. Instead of striking roots in the land and mixing with the local population, it did a double whammy—alienating the converts from their country, culture, and history. Thus, two mutually antagonistic communities, perpetually in a state of war, came into being. Naturally, Indian Muslims and Hindus usually don’t have the same view on either Akbar or Aurangzeb.

Aurangzeb is not a Hindu problem. He has been dead for over 300 years. But his legacy lives on and his ghost continues to haunt us—now in the form of supremacist Islam, separatist politics, identitarianism, and victimhood narratives.

Despite such a fraught history, Hindus haven’t had a tradition of lamentation (colloquially called vidhwa vilaap or widows’ lament) and are prone to forget or move on from their worst tragedies. So much so, that they haven’t even recorded most of what happened during Muslim rule—not even the repeated destruction of the Somnath temple at the hands of rulers from Mahmud Ghaznavi to Aurangzeb. The absence of the records of lamentation led Romila Thapar to argue that this destruction was no big deal for Hindus and that they didn’t really mind it.

Many centuries of Muslim rule notwithstanding, Hindus have never vilified any Muslim ruler. Though the nature of both the Sultanate and Mughal rule was such that no matter how good a sultan was in Muslim eyes, he couldn’t be good to Hindus. In fact, going by what the 14th-century theoretician of Islamic statecraft, Ziauddin Barani, wrote in Fatawa-i-Jahandari, the more a Muslim king oppressed Hindus, the better he was regarded.

Except for some stray exceptions, which fail to redeem the Muslim period, every ruler persecuted Hindus, demolished temples, imposed Jizya, and extorted 70 to 80 per cent of their produce as taxes. Yet, there is no vilification of even Alauddin Khilji or Muhammad bin Tughlaq.

Instead, Razia is celebrated for being a woman sultan, Sher Shah for his administration, and Akbar is the Great. Even Babur, like Humayun, had been above calumny before the mosque named after him came to symbolise the wounded civilisation of India.

Why, even Mahmud Ghaznavi doesn’t incite any strong emotions in the Hindus today. The reason is that the Muslims, whether out of sincerity or prudence, have followed the line propounded by historian Mohammad Habib in his book, Sultan Mahmud of Ghaznin (1927). They have been unanimous in Ghaznavi’s denunciation as a marauder, even though he is not condemned for being what he actually was—a Ghazi inspired by the Islamic doctrine of Jihad to destroy the religion of idol worshippers. And even though the “wealth in the temples” alibi gets on one’s nerves, it has sufficed that he has been condemned for being a greedy fanatic and plunderer. The Muslims don’t identify with him—at least, not in public discourse. If they did, it would reopen Hindu wounds, and Indian Muslims would be asked to make reparations for what their spiritual ancestors did.

Epitome of Muslim ruler

Like other bad memories, Aurangzeb too would have been forgotten. He would have remained confined to academic history and classrooms, and not jumped into public discourse. Actually, so it had been, and there was a cross-community consensus that Aurangzeb wasn’t conducive to communal concord. However, a book, written during the time when Muslim communalism incubated at the MAO College in Aligarh and the Muslim League was founded, changed this.

Maulana Shibli Nomani, the foremost Indian historian of Islam, a protégé of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, and a professor at the MAO College, wrote Aurangzeb Alamgir Par Ek Nazar in 1909. In the book, while recognising Aurangzeb’s excesses against Hindus, he brazenly justified them as an inescapable reaction to the community’s insubordination to Muslim rule. Instead, Shibli criticised Akbar’s policy of liberality, which so emboldened the Hindus as to invite repression by Aurangzeb.

“The Islamic world hasn’t since produced a man like him [Aurangzeb],” the concluding sentence of the book reads.

The production of this kind of literature should be understood in the context of its time. It was a period when the British were midwifing the birth of Muslim communalism. A discourse around Aurangzeb had become rife in which he was not only exonerated of the charges of discrimination against Hindu subjects but very much glorified for it. Aurangzeb was canonised as the patron saint of Muslim communalism—deservingly so.

The poet Iqbal, in his Persian work, Rumuz-e-Bekhudi (1918), while criticising Akbar and Dara Shikoh for their syncretism (he called it apostasy), exalted Aurangzeb by likening him to Prophet Abraham for his passion for breaking the Hindu idols.

Those who engage in Islamic politics, regard Aurangzeb as the epitome of Muslim ruler. When Mohammad Ali Jinnah died, Shabbir Ahmad Usmani, the chief maulvi of Muslim League, paid tribute to him by calling him the greatest Muslim after Aurangzeb.

In mainstream professional historiography, however, Aurangzeb remained a bigot and a fanatic. The nationalist historiography of doyens like Ishwari Prasad, AL Srivastava, and RP Tripathi—a liberal-secular-Hindu-Muslim-unity stream—regarded him as a black sheep who couldn’t be set up as an ideal for India’s composite culture.

By the 1960s, however, the situation changed with the ascendancy of the Muslim Marxist school of history at Aligarh. By then, secular politics had helped the Muslim gentry, the Ashraaf, to overcome the demoralisation caused by their role in the Partition. Muslim League politics was revived under the banner of Muslim Majlis Mushawarat, and Aligarh Muslim University’s Minority Character became the symbol of Muslim political renewal, which fell back into its default aggressive mode.

However, in independent India, this group needed a new paradigm and a new set of jargon to rehabilitate themselves. It was provided by a Marxist tool of analysis—economic determinism. All the wrongs of the Muslim rulers were blamed on the imperatives of economy, thus absolving the religious motivation provided by Islam.

Humanising Aurangzeb

Irfan Habib, in his book, The Agrarian System of Mughal India (1963), rightly blamed the excessive exploitation of peasantry for the downfall of the Mughal empire. But he forgot to detect the religious hatred that impelled Muslim rulers to subject peasants to such heavy exactions. [True, there were Muslim peasants, too, but they were Indian converts. In the early stages of Islamisation, they were still counted as Hindus (Hinduaan-e Kalma-go) and not regarded in the same category as the Ashraaf ruling class of foreign origin.]

The actual rehabilitation of Aurangzeb took place with M Athar Ali’s book, The Mughal Nobility Under Aurangzeb (1966), which showed that Hindus constituted 33 per cent of the nobility. This number, far higher than even Akbar’s 22 per cent, was taken as proof that Aurangzeb wasn’t the Hindu hater he is made out to be. However, this statistical secularisation of Aurangzeb didn’t take into account that it was an artificial swelling in the number of the Hindus, owing to them being co-opted through bribery during the war against the Marathas.

This new historiography normalised Aurangzeb. Now, he became a king like any other. A well-rounded man who, like others, was only a part-time bigot. He was humanised. His policy of persecution was attributed to economic necessity and political compulsion. The incriminating evidence in his own official records and primary sources were given a lie. A new historical method of “reading the mind” was instituted, where the latent intention (niyat) of the king mattered and written records didn’t. [This method came to full fruition in Ayesha Jalal’s The Sole Spokesman (1985), which argues that Jinnah didn’t really want Partition.]

Historians like Sir Jadunath Sarkar, India’s greatest modern historian, who based their books on the authentic sources, were called communal. And those who theorised with arcane interpretive tools became the high priests of the secular establishment.

Belief vs belonging

It is said that Aurangzeb was a man of his times. No, he wasn’t. In The Discovery of India (1946), Jawaharlal Nehru calls him a “throw-back” and accuses him of “putting the clock back”. He was a plain bigot and not the complex, nuanced character he is made out to be.

Such a character shouldn’t be hovering over national consciousness for as long as he has. He refuses to fade away because his legacy lives on. The Gyanvapi mosque of Varanasi and the Shahi Idgah mosque of Mathura are the least of them. He won’t recede into oblivion unless the Muslims resolve their ideological conflict between belief and belonging—between being a Muslim and an Indian.

The chapter on Aurangzeb needs a closure, but closure is the most elusive concept in Islamic history. Truth has always been subordinate to sectarian dogma and political ideology. So, even on an event like the Battle of Karbala, in which Prophet Muhammad’s own family was massacred by fellow Muslims, there hasn’t been closure. The majority of Muslims, while expressing sorrow at the tragedy, have an ideological urge to somehow justify it with roundabout reasoning. This tradition of moral ambiguity, which doesn’t allow for calling one’s own spade a spade, is not conducive to closure.

Other communities also have their share of a problematic past. The Catholics and Protestants, the Buddhists and Hindus, and the Shaivites and Vaishnavites might have done ugly things to each other, but they have moved on; those communities are no longer the same.

Muslims, however, remain caught in a time warp. If they don’t move on, they will remain the same as their ancestors—actual or ideological—forced to engage with the good as well as the bad of this legacy. Indian Muslims are not responsible for what happened during Muslim rule. But it’s for them to decide whether they want to identify with someone like Aurangzeb.

The Quran, while addressing the Jews of Medina as if they were the same Bene Israel of the Mosaic age, makes it clear that as the legatees of that tradition, they are bound by the covenant of their ancestors. They are liable to its rewards as well as punishments.

“One can also take an active part in a community’s past crimes and be held responsible for them, such that the ‘sins of the fathers’ are justly passed on to later generations. Insofar as individuals are willing to glory in a group identity and accept its accomplishments as an extension of the self, they expose themselves to the crimes associated with that group identity as well,” reads the commentary on the Ayat 84 of Surah Baqarah (2:84) in the authoritative exegesis, The Study Quran, edited by Seyyed Hossein Nasr.

A pioneering scholar from India, Maulana Amin Ahsan Islahi, while explaining the same Ayat in his commentary, Tadabbur-ul Quran, expressed a similar opinion about the liability of the lineal descendants or the ideological successors.

Aurangzeb is not yet history. He is politics. There is no need to dig up his grave, but it’s necessary to bury his ghost.

Ibn Khaldun Bharati is a student of Islam, and looks at Islamic history from an Indian perspective. He tweets @IbnKhaldunIndic. Views are personal.

Source:theprint.in

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://theprint.in/opinion/aurangzeb-politics-history-indian-muslims/2565184/

---------

Centre might need to do business with J&K’s mainstream parties. Even if it’s painful for Modi

PRAVEEN SWAMI

26 March, 2025

For fifty-two hours one summer in 1893, rain fell across Kashmir. A bear and a panther were found drowned side by side, their ancient hatred forgotten; ponies and cattle climbed into the verandahs of the elegant homes on the right bank of the Jhelum river. Faced with the wall of water, colonial civil servant Walter Roper Lawrence writes, the villagers of Tullamulla ripped the holy flags from their shrines and planted them along the flood plain to warn the waters away. Even nature, they reasoned, would not dare insult the ancient saints.

Everyone wasn’t pleased with this deep popular faith—or charlatanism, if one so wished to call it. Kashmir was entering a new period of religious ferment amid messianic claims that the flood had been retribution for the sins of its people, like the Flood of Nuh, which destroyed the idolaters.

Armed with ideas from Aligarh and Lahore, Mirwaiz Rasul Shah, the head of Srinagar’s Jamia mosque, set about eradicating bid’a, the syncretic folk practices woven through folk Islam. In 1889, Rasul Shah established a seminary, the Nusratul Islam, at Rajouri Kadal, the first formal school offering both secular and religious education to Kashmir’s Muslims. The seminary, today known as the Islamia School, flowered into an educational organisation, the Anjuman-i-Nusratul Islam.

“Islam is a sick child that needs its mother’s care and sympathy,” one student at the Islamia School declaimed. In his public speeches, Mirwaiz Rasul Shah left little doubt about what that was: The deification of saints and veneration of holy relics were Hindu practices which had corroded Islam from within.

Late in the 19th century, scholar Yoginder Sikand writes, the neo-conservative Ahl-e-Hadith began to preach an even more austere new faith based on the laws of Sharia. The kernels of an Islamist movement had been planted in Kashmir’s flood-ravaged soil.

This month, almost unnoticed outside Kashmir, the Union Home Ministry banned the Awami Action Committee, the political platform that emerged from the Anjuman-i-Nusratul Islam and a once-powerful element of the secessionist coalition, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference. The Shia Jammu and Kashmir Ittihadul Muslimeen, too, was banned.

Ever since Kashmir lost its special constitutional status in 2019, the Awami Action Committee and the Ittihadul Muslimeen had escaped proscription, with New Delhi hoping its leaders would steer their followers toward democratic politics. To some in the Bharatiya Janata Party, sources in the Union Home Ministry told ThePrint, these groups seemed potential partners for weakening the influence of the National Conference.

Legal appeals against the ban are certain to be filed—but a critical road in Kashmir politics seems to have been permanently closed.

The priest who wanted to be king

Two decades ago, in the high noon of peace negotiations between then-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan’s former president General Pervez Musharraf, it’s possible Mirwaiz Umar Farooq imagined himself as a king about to ascend his throne. “The agenda is pretty much set,” Mirwaiz Rasul’s Shah’s descendant told an interviewer. “It is September 2007 that India and Pakistan are looking at, in terms of announcing something on Kashmir”. “Let us come out of our delusions,” he asserted at a speech in Muzaffarabad in 2006, “our fight on the political, diplomatic and military fronts […has] not achieved anything other than creating more graveyards.”

As the chairperson of the Hurriyat, Mirwaiz had reason to hope the peace deal—which centred around an end to terrorism, open borders, and symmetrical autonomous regions on both sides of the Line of Control—would lead him to power in Srinagar. However, things didn’t work quite as planned.

Like much to do with colonial India, the rise of the Anjuman was a response to the challenge of modernity. Faced with the increasingly active presence of English missionaries, scholar Asif Ahmad Bhat writes, Mirwaiz Rasul Shah began to fear for his flock. The cleric’s anxieties about the English were shared by Maharaja Pratap Singh, who had been deposed in 1889 and then reinstated under the charge of a council.

The institution of the Mirwaiz, historian Mridu Rai records, represented a Kashmiri Muslim elite whose interests were profoundly entwined with the Dogra monarchy. The rise of Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah and his All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference posed a significant political challenge to this order. Abdullah, for his part, allied with Srinagar’s second Mirwaiz, the head of the more traditionalist Khanqah-e-Muala, or Shah-i-Hamdan shrine.

Kashmir’s rival Mirwaiz and its fledgling political parties often battled for power on the streets. Following Independence, they found themselves forced together as allies.

The two Farooqs

Faced with the breakdown of his relationship with Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1953—the result of his renewed pursuit of independence—Sheikh Abdullah reached out to the Mirwaiz. After the disappearance of a revered religious relic from the Hazratbal shrine in 1963, the two sides joined to exert pressure on New Delhi. Even as mobs attacked properties owned by chief minister Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed’s family, political scientist Navnita Chadha Behera notes, the Mirwaiz and Abdullah ran “an unauthorised parallel administration, controlling traffic, prices and commerce.” This was the genesis of the Awami Action Party.

From his pulpit, Mirwaiz Mohammad Farooq made thinly veiled pleas for Pakistani victory in the build-up to the war of 1965—backing up similar calls by radicals in Sheikh Abdullah’s Plebiscite Front. The members of the two also arranged for boycotts of marriages, funerals and religious ceremonies hosted by the families of Muslim Indian National Congress members.

Later, in 1983, former chief minister Farooq Abdullah allied with Mirwaiz Mohammad Farooq in an election campaign marred by ugly communal invective. Though the alliance helped Abdullah beat off competition from Jamaat-e-Islami in Kashmir—while the Congress decimated the BJP in Jammu, the ethnic-religious faultlines in the state deepened significantly.

The consolidation of Kashmiri identity along communal lines was a key moment in the journey toward the long jihad. Even though CM  Farooq drew back into the Congress fold in the 1987 elections, forces had been unleashed that neither political leader could control.

A fearful peacemaker

Mirwaiz Mohammad Farooq publicly condemned Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front terrorists for kidnapping former chief minister Mufti Muhammad Saeed’s daughter, Rubaiya Saeed. Later, scholar Balraj Puri revealed that he began reaching out to intermediaries in New Delhi, including former defence minister George Fernandes, to open a political dialogue. This effort was to lead to Mirwaiz Farooq’s assassination in the summer of 1990, a crime for which two alleged perpetrators are now being tried.

Four weeks after the assassination, the jihadist who killed him, Mohammad Abdullah Bangroo, was shot dead by police. A procession assembled again to take him to Srinagar’s so-called martyrs’ graveyard—the Mazar-e-Shuhada—and he was laid next to the Mirwaiz. For their supporters, both the assassin and his victims were martyrs—martyrs, moreover, for the same cause.

The new Mirwaiz, Umar Farooq, found himself leading the All Parties Hurriyat Conference. Like other Hurriyat constituents, the Awami Action Committee also spawned an armed group, Al-Umar, but it concerned itself mainly with keeping other jihadists out of the Mirwaiz’s heartlands in old-city Srinagar.

Following the 2006 peace talks, the Mirwaiz found himself confronted by an increasingly bitter Syed Ali Shah Geelani, the patriarch of Jammu and Kashmir’s Islamist movement. As violent street mobilisations against India began that year, the young new Mirwaiz’s mother, fearing for her son’s life, is believed to have counselled him to step back. To the frustration of his interlocutors in the government, Mirwaiz Umar declined to contest elections or join in direct dialogue with New Delhi.

The failure of one-time secessionists in Kashmir’s last Assembly elections—among them, Abdul Rashid Sheikh, or Engineer Rashid, and Sajjad Gani Lone—appears to have persuaded the Government of India that it will have to do business with mainstream parties like the National Conference and People’s Democratic Party. That might be painful for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has derided the leaders of both parties as corrupt dynasts. The decision, though, also holds out the prospect of finally removing the shadows Kashmir’s violent past casts over its political present.

Source:theprint.in

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://theprint.in/opinion/security-code/centre-need-to-do-business-with-jks-mainstream-parties-even-if-painful-modi/2564990/

--------

Maharashtra witnesses surge in communal unrest with 823 incidents reported in 75 days

March 26, 2025

Maharashtra has witnessed 823 incidents of communal unrest since January 2025, with violent clashes in Nagpur and tensions sparked by demands for the removal of Aurangzeb’s tomb, along with the spread of misinformation on social media, officials reported. In recent days, communal unrest has been recorded in multiple districts, including Nandurbar, Pune (Rural), Ratnagiri, Sangli, Beed, and Satara. The flashpoint has been the right-wing organizations’ demand for the demolition of the tomb of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, located in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district.

According to police officials, 156 criminal cases related to communal unrest were registered in January, 99 in February, and 78 until mid-March. Of these, 102 were classified as cognizable crimes related to religious disputes. In total, Maharashtra recorded 4,836 Hindu-Muslim-related communal incidents in 2024, with 170 categorized as cognizable crimes and 3,106 as non-cognizable cases. Additionally, 371 incidents were linked to religious insults.

One of the most significant incidents occurred in Nagpur on March 17, where mobs went on a rampage following a protest by Bajrang Dal and Vishva Hindu Parishad. The protestors demanded the removal of Aurangzeb’s tomb, branding it as a “symbol of pain and slavery.”

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis recently told the state legislature that the upcoming film “Chhaava,” starring Vicky Kaushal and based on the life of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, had reignited public emotions against Aurangzeb.

Authorities have identified inflammatory social media posts and rumors as key instigators of communal tensions. Maharashtra Cyber has flagged 144 links across Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and YouTube that carried incendiary content related to the Nagpur riots. Of these, 37 links were removed, while action was taken against 107 others by issuing notifications.

The communal tensions have also impacted the otherwise peaceful Konkan region, leaving local residents shocked. In Rajapur, Ratnagiri district, members of a Holi procession allegedly danced in front of the Jama Masjid gate, damaging it while chanting slogans in praise of Hindu deities and historical figures like Shivaji Maharaj and Sambhaji Maharaj. A viral video of the incident fueled tensions, with social media posts falsely claiming that the mosque had been attacked.

A local official emphasized that the Konkan region has historically upheld Hindu-Muslim harmony and interfaith festival traditions. “People here believe in peaceful coexistence. Hindu-Muslim strife is unprecedented in the coastal region,” he said.

Residents of Rajapur expressed deep concern over the unrest. Munna Surve, a local resident, described the region’s longstanding traditions of communal unity, where Hindus and Muslims celebrate each other’s festivals. “Hindus visit their Muslim friends’ homes for Eid, and Muslims participate in Ganesh festivities, Holi, and village deity processions,” he explained.

Ali Miyan Kazi, another resident of Ratnagiri, voiced his concern over politically motivated attempts to disrupt communal harmony. “Some politicians hate communal unity and try to stir tensions through provocative speeches,” he remarked.

Tensions have also led to economic boycotts in certain areas. In Sindhudurg district, an incident involving a 15-year-old son of a scrap dealer allegedly raising pro-Pakistan slogans during a cricket match led to a local ban on outsiders conducting business. Kazi warned that such exclusions could escalate tensions and urged restraint to maintain social harmony.

As Maharashtra continues to grapple with these incidents, authorities are monitoring social media activity and law enforcement agencies are on high alert to prevent further unrest. With deep-rooted traditions of Hindu-Muslim unity in several parts of the state, many citizens hope to restore peace and prevent politically driven communal divisions from disrupting their way of life. (With PTI inputs)

Source:muslimmirror.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://muslimmirror.com/maharashtra-witnesses-surge-in-communal-unrest-with-823-incidents-reported-in-75-days/

------

Congress MLA in J&K protests over civilian killings in Palestine

March 25, 2025

Congress MLA, Irfan Hafiz Lone on Tuesday staged a protest outside the Assembly demanding an end to the violence against innocent civilians in Palestine.

Lone carried a placard which read, “Innocent killings in Palestine are a murder of humanity”.

Lone represents the Wagoora-Kreeri constituency of Baramulla district in the 90-member J&K Legislative Assembly.

Speaking to IANS, he said, “I have said this before, and I stand by it, innocent killings are a murder of humanity.

“What we are witnessing in Palestine, where innocent children are being killed is nothing short of that. Our country has always stood against such killings, and this must stop.

“We want our country and the entire World to unite in an effort to end the killings of innocent people, wherever it may be. We do not take any pleasure in the violence happening there. My stand is clear, I am solely advocating for an end to the killings of innocent children, women, and civilians in Palestine. Beyond that, I firmly believe that the killing of innocent people is a crime against humanity.”

Lone is one of the six Congress MLAs, who won the 2024 Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections.

Congress and the National Conference (NC) fought those elections in alliance. The NC did not field any candidate against Congress candidates during the 2024 Assembly elections except in Banihal and Nagrota constituencies, where the two parties engaged in a friendly contest.

The NC won 42 Assembly seats, BJP 29, Congress six, PDP three, CPI(M) one, Peoples Conference (PC) one, Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) one and AAP one. Six seats were won by Independent candidates. Congress, CPI(M) and AAP supported the NC government from the outside while five of six Independent candidates later joined the NC.

The BJP won all its 29 seats from the Jammu division. The party did not win a single seat in the Valley.

Some prominent politicians who seem as closely associated with the BJP also lost in the Valley although they fought the elections as non-BJP candidates. — IANS

Source:muslimmirror.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://muslimmirror.com/congress-mla-in-jk-protests-over-civilian-killings-in-palestine/

--------

Delhi HC reserves order on Engineer Rashid’s plea to attend Parliament in custody

March 25, 2025

The Delhi High Court reserved its order on a petition filed by Jammu and Kashmir Member of Parliament (MP) Abdul Rashid Sheikh, also known as Engineer Rashid, who is currently incarcerated in a terror funding case. Rashid, who is seeking permission to attend the ongoing Parliament session, is facing charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for his alleged involvement in a 2017 terror funding case.

On Tuesday, a bench consisting of Justices Chandra Dhari Singh and Anup Jairam Bhambhani heard the matter. While the bench initially appeared inclined to grant Rashid’s request, it later indicated that a detailed order would be passed after further deliberation.

The bench discussed several conditions that might be imposed if the plea were allowed. One of the considerations was the possibility of requesting the Speaker of the Lok Sabha to grant special permission for a police official to accompany Engineer Rashid within the premises of Parliament while he attended the sessions. Despite this, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) vehemently opposed Rashid’s plea, arguing that the court had no jurisdiction over matters inside Parliament and should not interfere in such matters.

Engineer Rashid’s plea came after a trial court had dismissed his regular bail application on March 19, 2025. He had sought custody parole or interim bail from the court in order to attend the ongoing sessions of the Lok Sabha until April 4, 2025. The NIA, in its reply filed on March 17, strongly opposed the request, asserting that Rashid could not use his position as an MP to bypass the constraints of his imprisonment.

The agency argued that there was no enforceable right for Rashid to attend Parliament sessions while in lawful custody, especially since he was facing serious charges.

The NIA also raised concerns about Rashid’s influential position in Jammu and Kashmir, claiming that his presence in Parliament could lead to witness tampering or other attempts to influence the ongoing investigation.

The agency referred to Section 43D(5) of the UAPA, which limits the granting of bail if there are reasonable grounds to believe that the accusations against the accused are prima facie true. The NIA maintained that Rashid’s case fell under these provisions, and therefore, his request for interim bail or custody parole should be rejected.

Rashid’s legal team, on the other hand, argued that he should be granted temporary relief similar to a two-day reprieve he was granted previously. This reprieve had allowed him to attend Parliament while under custody parole, where he was escorted by armed police personnel to the place of visit. Rashid’s counsel contended that the temporary parole would allow him to fulfill his duties as an MP while respecting the conditions of his imprisonment.

Rashid, an independent MP from Baramulla, Jammu and Kashmir, had won the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, defeating prominent political figure Omar Abdullah. He has been in Tihar Jail since 2019, following his arrest by the NIA in connection with the terror funding case. The NIA claims that Rashid was involved in funding separatists and terror groups operating in Jammu and Kashmir. His name emerged during the interrogation of Zahoor Watali, a businessman and co-accused in the case.

In October 2019, Rashid was chargesheeted by the NIA, and in March 2022, a special NIA court framed charges against him and other accused individuals. These charges included criminal conspiracy (Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code), waging war against the government (Section 121), and sedition (Section 124A), along with offenses related to terrorist activities and terror funding under the UAPA.

The high court’s decision on Rashid’s petition will have significant implications for his ability to attend Parliament sessions during his ongoing trial. While the NIA’s objections remain strong, Engineer Rashid’s legal team continues to advocate for his right to perform his parliamentary duties, albeit under strict conditions that would ensure the security and integrity of the ongoing investigation.

The court’s reserved order will ultimately determine whether Rashid will be granted temporary relief to attend Parliament or if he will remain in custody without such reprieve. — With Agencies Inputs

Source:muslimmirror.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://muslimmirror.com/delhi-hc-reserves-order-on-engineer-rashids-plea-to-attend-parliament-in-custody/

--------

Renowned cancer surgeon Dr Majid Ahmed Talikoti made Honorary Health Commissioner by India-GCC Trade Council

March 25, 2025

The India GCC (Gulf Corporation Council) Trade Council has announced renowned oncologist surgeon Dr Majid Ahmed as its Honorary Health commissioner.

Dr. Talikoti was recently recognised as one of the 100 most influential Indian Muslim figures by Muslim Mirror. He is a chairman of a ‘Medicant Hospital’ in Jharkhand’s Bokaro. The hospital is known and praised for treating patients at very affordable fees.

In an event in Delhi, Dr. Talikoti was presented with the appointment letter of honorary health commissioner. The India-GCC Trade Council presented the offer recognising his contributions in the field of oncology and his health initiatives between India and Gulf countries.

Accepting the letter, doctor talikoti said the role offered to me is a significant step and I am eager to contribute to health initiatives that bridge India and Gulf countries together. Let’s work to build strong diplomatic ties and healthy Nations across borders.

Earlier, Dr Talikoti had gained recognition in Dubai and was awarded with Healthcare “Excellence Asian Arab Award 2025.”

Source:muslimmirror.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://muslimmirror.com/renowned-cancer-surgeon-dr-majid-ahmed-talikoti-made-honorary-health-commissioner-by-india-gcc-trade-council/

--------

Sambhal: Family Claims Mosque Committee President Faces Life Threat In Jail

26 March 2025

The family of Shahi Jama Masjid management committee president Zafar Ali who was arrested in connection with the November violence and sent to Moradabad Jail has alleged that his life is in danger and that jail authorities are not allowing them to meet him.

His family also alleged that he is not being given his medicines.

Ali was arrested on Sunday in connection with the violence on November 24 that occurred during a court-ordered survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid, resulting in the deaths of four people and injuries to several others. The Mughal-era mosque has been at the centre of a major row after a petition claimed that it was the site of an ancient Hindu temple.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Ali's elder brother Mohammad Tahir Ali claimed that the family members have been denied permission to visit him in jail.

"He is being treated as if he is a hardened criminal," he said.

Tahir Ali further alleged that Ali's life was at risk inside the prison.

"He is 70 years old and even his medicines are not being allowed. The police are misbehaving and the administration has crossed all limits," he said.

He also claimed that Ali had fully cooperated with the administration in the investigation into the Sambhal violence, yet he was being punished.

"We have full faith in the court and hope that justice will be served," he said, demanding Ali's unconditional release.

Tahir Ali had earlier alleged that Ali was arrested to prevent him from submitting his testimony before a three-member judicial commission.

Ali had accused the police of being responsible for the violence, claiming in a press conference that City Police Officer Anuj Chaudhary and Sub-Divisional Magistrate Vandana Mishra were to blame and that the deaths were caused by police gunfire.

Source:outlookindia.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.outlookindia.com/national/sambhal-family-claims-mosque-committee-president-faces-life-threat-in-jail

--------

Karnataka firm on implementing Muslim quota in govt contracts

March 25, 2025

The Karnataka government will implement reservation for Muslims in awarding government contracts as soon as the Justice Nagamohan Das Committee submits its report next month.

State Home Minister DG Parameshwara said that Chief Minister S Siddaramaiah has already indicated the government’s firm stand on implementing the quota at a meeting he held with ministers, including Parameshwara, Priyank Kharge, Shiraj Thangadgi, and Dr HS Mahadevappa.

Parameshwara told media persons that Justice Nagamohan Das, who was also present at the meeting, had categorically stated that empirical data would provide a definite opinion.

Social Welfare Minister Mahadevappa said Justice Nagmohan Das updated the ministers on the committee’s progress.

He said, “We had a long discussion based on the data, and Justice Nagmohan Das will submit an interim report within a week. We will decide based on the report. All issues, including empirical data, were discussed. Our government is committed to implementing internal reservation. No community has sought any particular percentage of reservation. Almost all departments have provided data. We will take action in accordance with the Supreme Court guidelines.”

Source:thestatesman.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.thestatesman.com/india/karnataka-firm-on-implementing-muslim-quota-in-govt-contracts-1503411944.html

---------

BJP to distribute ‘Saugat-e-Modi’ kits to people from Muslim, Sikh and Christian communities

March 25, 2025

Nistula Hebbar NISTULA HEBBAR

The Bharatiya Janata Party is launching a major outreach programme for Muslim, Sikh and Christian communities. The party is planning to distribute festive kits called “Saugat-e-Modi” (gifts from Prime Minister Modi) on the occasion of Eid, Baisakhi and Easter.

Speaking to The Hindu, BJP’s minority morcha chief Jamal Siddiqui said that the outreach was planned as three festivals were coming up in successive weeks — Eid at the end of March, Baisakhi on April 14 and Easter on April 20.

The outreach is significant as it at a time when the government is facing backlash from sections of the Muslim community over the Waqf Amendment Bill. Major Muslim organisations had boycotted Bihar Chief Minister and BJP ally Nitish Kumar’s Iftaar event over the Bill.

Bihar goes to to the polls later this year, and the boycott by All India Muslim Personal Law Board, Imarat-e-Sharia, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, Jamiat Ahle Hadith, Jamal-e-Islami Hind, Khanqah Mujibia and Khanqah Rahmani of the Iftaar event made headlines.

In a letter to Mr. Kumar, these organisations had said: “You had come to power on the promise of secular government and protection of the rights of minorities, but your alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party and your support to the illogical and unconstitutional Waqf Amendment Bill is a blatant violation of your same promises.”

Kits for 32 lakh people

The kit comprising dry fruits, besan (gram flour), suji (semolina), sewai (vermicelli), sugar and a salwar kameez set will be distributed to 32 lakh people from the three faiths.

“We have around 32,000 volunteers for the programme across the country, and each of them have been asked to reach out to 100 households of different faiths. If they have an issue making contact with these households, they have been asked to coordinate with the local mosque, gurdwara or church for the same,” said Mr. Siddiqui.

“This is part of the BJP’s outreach and a way to demonstrate the ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’ philosophy of the Narendra Modi government,” he said.

Mr. Siddiqui dismissed any connection between the distribution of the kits and the Waqf Bill or the Bihar polls. “Polls take place every year in some part of India or other, does that mean we don’t do such good works?” he said.

When asked as to what the financial outlay was for the kit distribution programme, Mr Siddiqui demurred, “saugat ki koi keemat nahin hoti, (gifts are priceless),” he said.

Source:thehindu.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/bjp-to-distribute-saugat-e-modi-kits-to-people-from-muslim-sikh-and-christian-communities/article69373280.ece

--------

Did Rajput king Rana Sanga invite Babur to invade India, sow seeds of Mughal rule?

Mar 25, 2025

India, in recent weeks, has seen heated debates surrounding medieval history, particularly surrounding Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, his rule and grave. As the Aurangzeb controversy snowballed, Rajput ruler Rana Sanga was brought into its ambit with Rajya Sabha MP Ramji Lal Suman calling him a "traitor" in a controversial speech in Parliament.

During his address on March 21, Ramji Lal Suman stated, "BJP leaders often claim that Muslims have the DNA of Babur. But Indian Muslims do not consider Babur their ideal. In fact, who brought Babur to India? It was Rana Sanga who invited him to defeat Ibrahim Lodi. By that logic, if you claim Muslims are the descendants of Babur, then you are also the descendants of Rana Sanga — a traitor. We criticise Babur, but not Rana Sanga."

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has strongly opposed this statement, calling it an insult to the Hindu community.

This has once again revived the debate over whether Rana Sanga of Mewar truly invited Babur to India. Here’s what historical records and historians suggest.

THE LAST RULER OF LODI DYNASTY IN DELHI: IBRAHIM LODI

Babur was the first emperor of the Mughal dynasty, which succeeded the Lodis. Ibrahim Lodi, the last ruler of the Lodi dynasty, was on the throne in Delhi. It was 1517.

Ibrahim Lodi had inherited a fragmented empire where regional governors held significant autonomy. Determined to consolidate power, he sought to curb their influence and centralise authority, writes Christian Mabel Duff in Chronology of India.

One of his most controversial policies was the removal of powerful nobles who had enjoyed semi-independent rule under his predecessors. He dismissed and even executed several senior Afghan chiefs, replacing them with his own loyalists. This move alienated the Afghan nobility, who were accustomed to a decentralised system of governance.

He also attempted to weaken the hereditary control of nobles over their jagirs. Unlike his father, Sikandar Lodi, who had maintained a balance between central authority and noble autonomy, Ibrahim sought direct control over land and revenue collection.

One of the key figures who opposed him was his uncle, Daulat Khan Lodi, the governor of Punjab. Resentful of Ibrahim’s efforts to undermine his authority, he sought external support. Similarly, Alam Khan Lodi, also an uncle of Ibrahim Lodi and the ruler of Jaunpur, felt sidelined.

Ibrahim’s aggressive centralisation policies created widespread unrest, leading to multiple rebellions. His inability to maintain a balance between central authority and regional power structures ultimately weakened his rule, making the Delhi Sultanate vulnerable to external invasion.

LODI-RANA SANGA RIVALRY AND BATTLE

In 1519, Rajput king Rana Sanga defeated Mahmud Khalji II of Malwa in the Battle of Gagron, capturing him and annexing significant territory. Following this victory, he appointed Medini Rai, one of his vassals, to govern much of the former Malwa Sultanate, with Chanderi as his capital.

The expansion of Sanga’s influence alarmed the Lodi rulers of Delhi, who had been attempting to assert control over Malwa, writes Satish Chandra in A History of Medieval India (1526-1748).

Chanderi had previously pledged allegiance to the Lodi Sultan, and Ibrahim Lodi saw Sanga’s growing power as a direct threat. This led to a series of clashes between the Lodis and Rana Sanga.

In 1518, a significant battle took place at Ghatoli, near the border of Harauti in southern Rajasthan.

Rana Sanga's forces overwhelmed the Lodi army, forcing Ibrahim Lodi to retreat.

Ibrahim Lodi suffered another major defeat at the Battle of Dholpur, further weakening his control over northern India. In the fight, Rana Sanga lost an arm to a sword cut and suffered an arrow wound to his leg. Despite these injuries, he continued to lead his forces against the Lodis.

BABUR'S INROADS INTO THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT

In 1504, Timurid ruler Babur seized control of Kabul and Ghazni after overthrowing his uncle, Ulugh Beg II. But he suffered losses in both Ferghana and Samarkand. After suffering losses for the third time in Samarkand, Babur turned his attention to India, writes Marc Jason Gilbert in South Asia in World History.

With Muhammad Shaybani threatening his rule in the north-west, Babur looked south-east to Punjab as a potential expansion zone. By 1519, he had reached the Chenab River, marking the beginning of his incursions into northern India.

At the time, the Delhi Sultanate under Ibrahim Lodi was in turmoil.

Lodi's strict centralisation policies had alienated key nobles, including Daulat Khan Lodi, the governor of Punjab, who invited Babur to invade India to overthrow Ibrahim. Alam Khan Lodi also invited Babur.

WAS BABUR INVITED TO 'INVADE INDIA'?

Historians disagree on whether Rana Sanga explicitly invited Babur.

Babur’s memoir, Baburnama, mentions "best wishes and a proposal" from Rana Sanga.

"If the honoured Padshah will come to near Dihli from that side, I from this will move on to Agra," Rana Sanga wrote to Babur, according to Baburnama, translated by Annette Susannah Beveridge.

But historical records other than the memoir do not verify these claims.

Modern historians such as Satish Chandra argue that Rana Sanga likely hoped to take advantage of Babur’s conflict with the Lodis rather than formally inviting him.

Historian Jadunath Sarkar dismisses the idea of invitation from Rana Sanga, emphasising that Babur’s invasion was driven by his own ambitions and alliances with Lodi rebels.

Gaurishankar Hirachand Ojha argues it was Babur who sought Rana Sangha's help.

BABUR'S INDIA ENTRY AND THE BATTLE OF PANIPAT

In 1524, Babur marched towards Lahore, only to find that Ibrahim had already expelled Daulat Khan.

In the ensuing battle, Babur’s forces crushed the Lodi army, allowing him to secure key territories such as Jhelum, Sialkot, Kalanaur, and Dipalpur.

Before returning to Kabul, Babur placed Dipalpur under the control of Alam Khan Lodi, a rebellious uncle of Ibrahim Lodi, further destabilising the Lodi regime.

By late 1525, Babur launched a full-scale invasion, crossing the Indus in December. After consolidating his hold over Punjab, he advanced towards Delhi, leading to the decisive First Battle of Panipat in 1526, writes Satish Chandra.

Ibrahim Lodi’s massive army outnumbered Babur’s 12,000-strong force but lacked gunpowder. Babur, using matchlocks, artillery, and horse archers, set up a deadly trap with chained waggons and strategic flanks.

As Ibrahim’s troops advanced, Babur’s muskets and cannons shattered their ranks. War elephants panicked, trampling their own men. Trapped in a bottleneck, Lodi’s army collapsed—20,000 soldiers, including Ibrahim Lodi, were killed, sealing Babur’s victory.

Babur's victory in the Battle of Panipat marked the beginning of Mughal rule in India. Buth the Babur-Sanga saga was far from over.

RANA SANGA VS BABUR: THE BATTLE OF KHANWA (1527)

Following Babur’s victory at Panipat, Rana Sanga expected him to return to Kabul, leaving the Rajputs in control of northern India. However, Babur declared himself the ruler of Hindustan and refused to leave.

Seeing Babur not budging, Rana Sanga gathered a massive coalition of Rajput and Afghan forces to challenge him.

The conflict culminated in the Battle of Khanwa in 1527, a decisive confrontation in Indian history.

Babur, despite being outnumbered, employed superior tactics, including Tulghuma (flanking manoeuvres) and artillery-based warfare, which overwhelmed Rana Sanga’s forces. The Rajputs suffered a crushing defeat, cementing Mughal dominance in India.

However, it was Rana Sanga who dealt the Mughals their first defeat in India.

In the months leading up to Khanwa, the Mughals had faced resistance at Bayana, a Rajput stronghold. Babur’s forces, led by Abdul Aziz, captured Bayana Fort, but Sanga retaliated and handed the Mughals their first loss in India.

However, the setback was temporary. When the final battle took place at Khanwa on March 16, 1527, Babur’s artillery and strategic positioning ensured his victory.

Historians like Satish Chandra note that Khanwa was one of the first battles in northern India where gunpowder was used extensively, marking a shift in military tactics. The battle resulted in heavy casualties on both sides but ended Rajput resistance against the Mughals, ensuring Babur’s control over northern India.

Ultimately, while Daulat Khan Lodi and Alam Khan Lodi actively invited Babur to invade India, the role of Rana Sanga has not been substantiated. Some sources suggest he saw Babur as a tool to weaken the Lodis, while others argue he underestimated Babur’s ambition. What is historically confirmed is that Rana Sanga fought Babur after he captured Delhi.

Source:indiatoday.in

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/rajput-king-rana-sanga-invite-babur-to-invade-india-sow-seeds-of-mughal-rule-samajwadi-party-ramjilal-suman-bjp-2698696-2025-03-25

-------

Sole Muslim MLA in Gujarat seeks speaker’s protection from ‘insulting’ references to him

Mar 25, 2025

The sole Muslim MLA in the Gujarat Assembly on Monday sought the speaker’s protection from allegedly insulting references to him by Bharatiya Janata Party legislators, The Indian Express reported.

In response, Speaker Shankar Chaudhary urged all MLAs not to make personal references. This came after the Muslim legislator, the Congress’ Imran Khedawala, objected to BJP MLAs describing him as being “from a specific community”.

During the Question Hour on Monday, Khedawala sought to know when work would begin on a proposed bridge between Vishala Circle and Sarkhej Crossroads in Ahmedabad, and by when the construction would be completed. The road passes through the Muslim-dominated areas of Juhapura and Sarkhej in Ahmedabad.

In response, Minister of State Jagdish Vishwakarma said that starting the construction and completing it depended on several factors, including the number of encroachments on the route, according to The Indian Express.

“On that single road, there are more than 700 non-veg lorries, shops, kiosks; more than 1,200 rickshaws lie on that road, around 11 garages of a particular community are there and all of them are illegal,” Vishwakarma said. “Around six religious encroachments of a particular community are there.”

The BJP MLA was further quoted by The Indian Express as saying: “When only a particular community does encroachments in the entire state, then, honourable Imranbhai, it is your duty that your community does not do wrongful encroachment.”

Vishwakarma subsequently said that Khedawala’s allegedly “unauthorised” office in Ahmedabad’s Jamalpur area had recently been bulldozed.

The Congress MLA, however, denied that his office was illegal. Khedawala told the speaker that BJP legislators were repeatedly describing him in allegedly insulting terms as being from a “particular community”.

He said: “Here, I am a Muslim MLA among the 182 MLAs. So, I seek your protection. I raise issues of society and of Gujarat within the limits of the Constitution. So, the kind of sentences being used in the Assembly, it should not be done now onwards.”

Speaker Shankar Chaudhary then asked all ministers and MLAs to be respectful of each other, The Indian Express reported.

Source:scroll.in

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://scroll.in/latest/1080634/sole-muslim-mla-in-gujarat-seeks-speakers-protection-from-insulting-references-to-him

--------

 

Pakistan

 

YouTuber Rajab Butt booked under blasphemy, Peca laws over ‘religious stir’ caused by perfume launch

Imran Gabol

March 25, 2025

YouTuber Rajab Butt has been booked under blasphemy and cybercrime laws due to a “religious stir” caused by the launch of his perfume brand that allegedly mocked Pakistan’s blasphemy law, it emerged on Tuesday.

Butt has one of the largest online followings in the country and has been embroiled in controversy for years, including over his brief custody of a lion cub.

In a recent video, since deleted from his social media accounts, Butt launched his “295” perfume which refers to the namesake blasphemy law in the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

He said it followed a case filed against him last year, over an earlier video deemed blasphemous by hardliners.

His perfume publicity sparked further ire, prompting a leader of the religiopolitical Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) party to file a first information report (FIR) at Lahore’s Nishtar Colony Police Station on Monday under PPC Section 295-A (insulting religious beliefs) and Section 11 (hate speech) of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) of 2016.

The FIR, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, said Butt spread “anti-religious content” in his videos.

The complainant, TLP leader Haider Ali Shah Gillani, said he was watching videos on his cell phone on Sunday when he came across one by Butt.

The FIR said that in the video, Butt was referring to the previous blasphemy case against him and the laws he was charged under, saying his “mentor” — the deceased Indian singer Sidhu Moose Wala — was also charged with similar laws. It added that the video also showed Butt naming his new perfume after the said law — PPC Section 295.

It said Butt had “hurt religious sentiments and violated the blasphemy laws.”

Blasphemy is an incendiary charge in the country, where even unsubstantiated accusations can incite public outrage and lead to lynchings.

In both cases against him, Butt risks up to 10 years in prison. He issued an apology video on Sunday, asserting he was not against the blasphemy laws.

“I apologise for the words I uttered during the launch of the perfume,” he said in the video. “I apologise and announce the discontinuation of this perfume,” he added.

Butt has previously drawn a parallel with his “mentor”, who released a song titled “295” in reference to religious incitement.

Lahore Deputy Inspector General of Police (Operation) Faisal Kamran said the Peca section was added since the issue pertained to comments on social media. He said Butt was currently performing Umrah and would be arrested upon return to the country.

He said the police would approach the Pakistan Ulema Council for its comment over speaking against the blasphemy law and aggrieving religious sentiments.

“Religion is a sensitive issue and one should take special care for speaking about it. People do not use logic in religion and everything is connected to sentiments,” he said, adding that people should be careful while speaking and writing on social media as it could hurt public sentiments.

In other legal troubles, Butt pleaded guilty in January to owning an undocumented wild animal after accepting a lion cub as a wedding gift.

He avoided jail by promising a judge to post animal rights videos for a year.

Source:dawn.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.dawn.com/news/1900267/youtuber-rajab-butt-booked-under-blasphemy-peca-laws-over-religious-stir-caused-by-perfume-launch

------

Opposition leaders challenge delay in picking new chief election commissioner

Malik Asad

March 26, 2025

ISLAMABAD: Opposition leaders in the National Assembly and Senate have filed a petition before the Islamabad High Court (IHC), challenging the delay in the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and two members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

The petition, submitted by Omar Ayub and Shibli Faraz, calls for urgent action to fill the vacant positions in compliance with constitutional provisions.

The petitioners argued that the CEC and ECP members from Sindh and Balochistan completed their tenure, and the delay in appointing their successors was a violation of the Constitution. They urged the court to declare illegal their continued stay beyond their constitutional tenure.

The opposition leaders contended that government inaction, particularly by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, and Senate Chairman Yousaf Raza Gilani, created an “administrative void” in the ECP.

They asked the court to declare that the government failed to fulfill its constitutional responsibilities.

They further requested the court to issue a directive to the NA speaker to form a parliamentary committee and nominate MNAs for the selection process. Similarly, they demanded, Mr Gilani submit the names of Senate representatives to expedite the appointments.

The petitioners further sought a court order instructing the PM to hold meaningful consultations with the leader of the opposition in the NA under Article 213 of the Constitution to finalise the appointments.

The five-year terms of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sika­ndar Sultan Raja, Sindh Member Nisar Durrani and Balo­ch­istan Member Shah Muhammad Jatoi ended on Jan 26, but they will continue to indefinitely hold the offices by virtue of a controversial amendment made in the Constitution in October last year.

The 26th Amendment allowed the CEC and the members to continue till their successors come in. As per Article 215(4) of the Constitution, the appointment of the CEC and members must be completed within 45 days. This deadline expired on March 12, yet no concrete steps have been taken.

Mr Raja’s term was characterised by controversies. He was often criticised by the opposition for his failure to hold timely general elections, denying PTI its iconic poll symbol of ‘bat’ and playing key role in alleged manipulation of election results.

If a consensus is reac­hed, the proposed names are sent to the parliamentary committee for approval.

In case of disagreement, each side submits three names per position, and the committee makes the final decision.

Former Supreme Court judges, technocrats and bureaucrats below the age of 68 are eligible for consideration for the post of CEC, while retired high court judges, bureaucrats and technocrats below the age of 65 are eligible to become ECP members.

Source:dawn.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.dawn.com/news/1900319/opposition-leaders-challenge-delay-in-picking-new-chief-election-commissioner

-------

CM Bugti sees governance issues behind terrorism

Saleem Shahid

March 26, 2025

• Vows strict action against dual employment, misuse of govt vehicles

• Insists non-performing officials have no right to remain in office

• Unveils plans to create more jobs with private sector help

QUETTA: Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti stated on Tuesday that poor governance strengthens terrorism, making administrative reforms crucial for the province’s stability.

Chairing a meeting of the Secretaries’ Committee, CM Bugti reviewed governance challenges, development projects and administrative inefficiencies. The session was attended by Chief Secretary Shakeel Qadir Khan, Inspector General of Balochistan Police Moazzam Jah Ansari, and secretaries from all provincial departments.

During the meeting, it was revealed that 428 employees across 28 departments were engaged in dual employment. The chief minister directed authorities to take immediate action, ordering the registration of FIRs and invoking the Balochistan Employees Efficiency and Discipline Act (BEDA) to address the violations.

The Excise Department secretary also presented records of 9,882 government vehicles, revealing that several officers had retained official vehicles despite being transferred. Expressing displeasure, CM Bugti ordered the immediate registration of FIRs against the responsible officers.

The chief minister emphasised that public trust in the government depends on effective governance. He urged civil servants to fulfil their responsibilities, warning that non-performing officials have no right to remain in office. To enforce accountability, he called for amendments to the Civil Servants Act to facilitate the forced retirement of inactive officers.

He further announced that, with the support of the Information Technology Department, he now has direct access to a database of government employees and will personally monitor their attendance and performance. Strict action will follow in cases of unsatisfactory performance, he warned.

Directing officials to ensure meaningful development, CM Bugti stated that projects should not be limited to constructing buildings but must prioritise real public welfare. He stressed that government officers must be willing to work in remote areas under challenging conditions to ensure genuine service delivery.

He declared that no government officer or emp­loyee could deviate from the state’s narrative. He warned that poor governance empowers anti-state elements, making its prevention crucial. Ackno­wledging that Balochistan is facing a difficult period, he urged all government officials to focus on solving public problems.

CM Bugti also annou­nced plans to create more employment opportunities through the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) in collaboration with the private sector.

Reaffirming the government’s commitment to counterterrorism, CM Bugti stated that while the state has always been open to dialogue, anti-state elements aiming to destabilise the country through violence will not be tolerated. He declared a decisive battle against hardcore terrorists, warning that no government officer or employee would be allowed to submit to militant threats.

He directed all civil servants to remain committed to promoting the state’s agenda and ensuring the implementation of government policies. He stressed that it was time for civil servants to justify the privileges they receive and prioritise public service.

Source:dawn.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.dawn.com/news/1900315/cm-bugti-sees-governance-issues-behind-terrorism

--------

Sammi, 4 others detained in Karachi for a month under MPO

Imtiaz Ali

March 25, 2025

The Sindh government on Tuesday detained Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) leader Sammi Deen Baloch and four others for 30 days under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) following the group’s protest in Karachi.

Karachi police on Monday detained Sammi and several others for violating Section 144 and used force to break up the BYC’s protest against the recent arrests of its leadership and a crackdown on its Quetta sit-in.

The BYC had announced a protest at the Karachi Press Club (KPC) against the “illegal detention” of its key leaders, including Dr Mahrang Baloch who was arrested on Saturday along with 16 other activists from their protest camp in Quetta, a day after claiming that three protesters had died due to police action.

In Karachi, Artillery Maidan police booked Sammi and five other detained activists under Section 188 (disobedience to an order duly promulgated by a public servant) for violating Section 144.

According to Tuesday’s order by the Sindh government’s home department, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, the Sindh inspector general of police (IGP) had recommended had recommended a 30-day detention period for Sammi, Razzak Ali, Abdul Wahab Baloch, Shehdad and Sultan.

The order stated that the five were “instigating [the] public to block roads and organise sit-ins in Karachi, which may disturb peace and tranquility and can create serious law and order problems”.

It went on to say that the presence of the five people “is likely to pose grave threat to the public safety and can cause breach of peace and tranquility.”

The order further said that the Sindh government “has sufficient reasons to believe that the five people “[should] be arrested and detained for a period of 30 days from the date of arrest”.

Their custody shall be placed under the Central Prison Karachi senior superintendent, the order read.

MPO to be challenged tomorrow, Sammi’s lawyer says

On Tuesday afternoon, Sammi’s lawyer Jibran Nasir confirmed that she had been confined at Central Jail under the MPO issued and would be kept there for 30 days.

“The learned judicial magistrate discharged all five accused in the FIR registered yesterday,” Jibran said in a post on X.

“As soon as the accused were discharged and ordered to be released the police started waving the MPO order. While Sammi surrendered and willfully gave her arrest, the whereabouts of four others Lala Wahab, Raziq, Sultan and Shahdad are unknown,” he said.

Jibran added that he would be challenging the MPO in the Sindh High Court tomorrow.

Other protesters detained on Monday were identified as Abdul Wahab, Mustafa Ali, Shahzad Rab, Hamza Iftikhar and Sultan Hamal.

The FIR registered on the complaint of a policeman stated that about 35-40 men and women arrived at Fawara Chowk and attempted to enter the Red Zone. The complainant said the police tried to prevent them, but the protesters allegedly entered the sensitive area forcibly.

The police took action and detained Sammi, Abdul Wahab and four other nominated persons, while others fled.

Ahead of the protest, the commissioner imposed Section 144, and all roads leading to the Karachi Press Club — the venue of the protest — were blocked with the help of temporary barriers.

This caused massive traffic jams in the city centre, where citizens remained stuck for hours and many of them were seen breaking their fast on the road.

Counter-protests

On the other hand, two separate counter-protests were held in the nearby area, where participants held placards and chanted slogans against the BYC as well as the banned Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA).

However, it was unclear under what arrangements the counter-protests were organised despite the imposition of Section 144.

One such protest was being held outside the KPC, with participants holding placards reading “a link to RAW: BLA and BYC”, referring to India’s intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing.

More people had gathered at a petrol station near Zainab Market, with one of the placards reading “two sides of the same coin — BLA and BYC”.

Some banners carried by protesters at the Fawara Chowk mentioned the Pakistan Ulema Council as the organiser.

Another demonstration was also held to show solidarity with the armed forces near Zainab Market. Videos of the protest showed protesters chanting slogans against the BYC leadership as well as BLA.

Deputy Inspector General (DIG) South Syed Asad Raza told Dawn.com: “Some people were organising a counter-protest at Fawara Chowk; they were dispersed. Nobody is being allowed to organise public protests or assemblies in the light of notification by Commissioner Karachi.”

Source:dawn.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.dawn.com/news/1900238/sammi-4-others-detained-in-karachi-for-a-month-under-mpo

---------

BYC leader Sammi Deen detained under MPO after Karachi court orders release

Imtiaz Ali | Sumair Abdullah | Saleem Shahid

March 26, 2025

• Sindh govt cites security concerns for their detention; 10 more activists arrested in Quetta

• BHC admits plea against Mahrang’s arrest, allows jail meeting

KARACHI / QUETTA: Police detained Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) leader Sammi Deen Baloch under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) ordinance on Tuesday, shortly after a judicial magistrate ordered her release, along with four other activists in a case related to the violation of Section 144.

Defence counsel Jibran Nasir told Dawn that out of the five activists, only Sammi Baloch was detained by police under the MPO for 30 days, while the whereabouts of the other four remained unknown.

A day earlier, Sammi Baloch and several others were detained for holding a protest in violation of Section 144 against the recent arrests of its leadership, Dr Mahrang Baloch, and the police crackdown on its sit-in in Quetta.

On Tuesday morning, the investigating officer (IO) submitted a request before District and Sessions Judge (South) Suresh Kumar, seeking permission to produce the five arrested BYC activists before a magistrate at the judicial complex inside the central prison instead of the court concerned at the City Courts due to security concerns.

After obtaining permission from the sessions judge, the IO brought Sammi Baloch, Razzak Ali, Abdul Wahab, Shehdad and Sultan before Judicial Magistrate (South) Shahzad Khowaja.

Karachi Bar Association (KBA) President Aamir Nawaz Warraich, along with his cabinet members, was present in the court in support of the BYC activists.

After hearing arguments from prosecutor Shakeel Ahmed Abbasi and the defence counsel, the court discharged the activists under Section 63 of the CrPC and directed the IO to submit the challan within the stipulated time.

Explaining the reasons for discharging the suspects, the judge noted no one who commits a non-cognizable offence can be arrested without permission of a magistrate in terms of Section 4-(n) of the CrPC, nor can any investigation be initiated or conducted without such permission in terms of section 155-(2).

The court observed that when questioned, the IO and the prosecutor failed to provide satisfactory answers.

Later, Jibran Nasir told Dawn that the FIR was illegal and had been filed without the approval of the local authority, adding that the magistrate had ordered the suspects’ discharge and release.

Asked how many BYC activists were arrested or detained under the MPO after being released by the court, Mr Nasir said that out of the five, only Sammi had been detained, while the whereabouts of Razzak Ali, Abdul Wahab, Shehdad and Sultan were still unknown.

Detention order

According to an official order issued by the Sindh home secretary on Tuesday, the decision to detain the BYC activists was based on a letter sent by the IGP Sindh, citing apprehensions of law and order problems.

The order stated that the provincial police chief had written to the home department on March 25, reporting that Sammi Deen Baloch and four others — Abdul Wahab Baloch, Razzak Ali, Shehdad and Sultan — were “instigating the public to block roads and organise sit-ins in Karachi, which may disturb peace and tranquility and create serious law and order problems”.

“That such an act on their part will be highly prejudicial to the public safety and maintenance of public order,” said the letter. Thus, the IGP recommended detaining the said activists under the MPO-1960 for 30 days, it added.

The official order further stated: “On the basis of the request and considering the merits of the case, the government of Sindh was satisfied that there was a serious apprehension of public safety and in the interest of the country and public, the presence of above persons, at any public place was likely to pose grave threat to the public safety and can cause breach of peace and tranquility.

“Therefore, under section 3 (i) of the Sindh Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, 1960, the government of Sindh has sufficient reasons to believe that the said persons be arrested and detained for a period of 30 days from the date of arrest. Their custody shall be placed under the senior superintendent Central Prison Karachi. They shall be at liberty to make representation to the provincial government against this order.”

Arrests in Balochistan

Meanwhile, police in Quetta arrested 10 more activists of the BYC and registered three cases against them. These cases were filed on Tuesday after the BYC workers blocked roads at Sona Khan Chowk, Qambrani Road and Western Bypass in Quetta. The cases were registered at the Sariab, New Sariab and Brewery police stations.

In addition to the arrested activists, BYC leaders, including Sabiha Baloch, Gulzadi Baloch, Shal Ali Baloch, Nosheen Baloch, Sabghatullah Baloch, Gulzar Dost Baloch and Riaz Gishkori, have also been named in the cases.

The cases, filed on complaints by police officers, include charges of property damage, illegal assembly, sedition, incitement to violence and spreading hatred.

The Quetta police have so far registered seven cases against more than 500 BYC leaders and activists, including Mahrang Baloch, at four different police stations. The Balochistan High Court on Tuesday admitted for hearing a petition filed against the arrest of BYC chief organiser Mahrang Baloch, and also allowed her to meet her relatives and lawyers in jail.

A BHC division bench, comprising Justice Rozi Khan Bareech and Justice Shoukat Ali Rakhshani, heard the petition filed by Nadia Baloch, the sister of Dr Mahrang.

The petitioner, through her lawyers Habib Tahir, Imran Baloch, Khalid Kubdani and Mudalfa Achakzai, argued that Mahrang Baloch was arrested under Section 3 of the MPO without any justification, violating Articles 15, 16, and 19 of the Constitution.

After hearing arguments from both sides, the bench accepted the petition for a regular hearing and issued notices to the federal interior ministry, the provincial home department and the Balochistan police chief.

The petitioner further requested the court to grant permission for family members and lawyers to meet Mahrang Baloch in district jail, as jail authorities had previously denied them access when they attempted to visit her.

The bench granted permission with an observation that every prisoner has the right to meet their lawyers and relatives.

Source:dawn.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.dawn.com/news/1900317/byc-leader-sammi-deen-detained-under-mpo-after-karachi-court-orders-release

-------

PTI to hold protest at Adiala jail over Eid

Ikram Junaidi

March 26, 2025

ISLAMABAD: After failing to get any concession for the party’s founding chairman, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) will hold protests outside the Adiala Jail on three days of Eidul Fitr.

The Chairman of Public Accounts Committee and head of the PTI Khyber Pakht­unkhwa Chapter, Junaid Akbar, in a televised interview, said that the party workers will hold protest on all three days of Eidul Fitr outside the Adiala jail where the former prime minister, Imran Khan, is imprisoned.

He also said if the government wanted to hold talks with the main opposition party, it (government) has to take the first step and show its seriousness in the talks.

He said that everything is not ideal in the opposition alliance, but said that efforts are being made to strengthen the alliance.

“The parties in Tehreek-i- Tahafuz-i-Ayeen-i-Pak­istan (TTAP) are supporting us. Now we have been trying to get the support of the political forces which are not part of the parliament. We have also contacted Jamaat-i-Islami leadership and I am quite hopeful that the situation will improve,” he said.

While admitting that there are some differences within parties, Mr Akbar said that such small obstacles will not affect the alliance.

“We will march towards Islamabad after Eidul Fitr, but it is also possible that we may hold a protest outside the Adiala jail on three Eidul Fitr days, he said.

The PTI has been trying hard to get concessions for the founding chairman and it did all possible efforts to get Imran Khan released on payroll to attend a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security which was briefed by armed forces after the Jaffar Express incident.

After failing to get him [Imran Khan] released, the PTI tried to get approval for the party leaders to meet Mr Khan in the jail, but even that request was not allowed by the government due to which the party has now decided to boycott the meeting of the committee. Now the PTI has been aiming to start a massive movement after Eid to put pressure on the government to get some concessions for the incarcerated ex-PM.

Source:dawn.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.dawn.com/news/1900318/pti-to-hold-protest-at-adiala-jail-over-eid

--------

Journalist Farhan Mallick sent to Karachi jail over alleged ‘anti-state’ content

Sumair Abdullah

March 25, 2025

A court in Karachi sent journalist Farhan Mallick to jail on a 14-day judicial remand on Tuesday for allegedly airing “anti-state” content on his outlet’s YouTube channel.

Mallick, the founder of media agency Raftar and a former news director at Samaa TV, was arrested on March 20 in Karachi and booked under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) as well as the Pakistan Penal Code. The next day, he was handed into the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) custody for four days.

Mallick was presented before the court of Judicial Magistrate-I (East) Khalique Zaman today. Investigation Officer Zeeshan Awan appeared during the hearing.

The FIA sought an extension of the Raftar founder’s physical remand till April 3. However, the court denied the request and sent him on a 14-day judicial remand.

Separately, the court also took up Mallick’s bail petition and issued notices to the respondents, including the prosecutor and the investigation officer, for the next hearing on March 27.

According to a first information report (FIR) dated March 20, the FIA had received a report about Raftar TV’s YouTube channel, which was “involved in running a campaign for the posting of anti-state videos targeting the dignitaries mentioned in violation”.

Mallick had been booked under sections 16 (unauthorised use of identity information), 20 (offences against the dignity of a natural person) and 26-A of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) 2016, as well as sections 500 (punishment for defamation) and 109 (abetment) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

Notably, Section 26A is among the provisions recently added to the Peca laws, wherein fake news is defined as any information about which a person “knows or has reason to believe to be false or fake and likely to cause or create a sense of fear, panic or disorder or unrest”.

Any person found guilty of spreading such information could be sentenced to up to three years in prison or fined up to Rs2 million, or both.

The criminalisation of online disinformation has spread fear in Pakistan, with journalists among those worried about the potentially wide reach of the law.

Earlier today, Raftar said Mallick was to appear before a “link judge” as the previous judge would not be coming.

“We’ve been at the court since 8:30am, as today the FIA was ordered to present Mr Farhan after their investigative remand period ended,” a post on Raftar’s official X account said.

“In the morning we were told the judge was not going to be coming today. Farhan will now have to appear before a link judge. The link judge is waiting for the regular court to send files. The regular court is waiting for the FIA to bring Farhan,” it added.

The outlet, noting that it was almost 11am, said “this kind of delay is frustrating and raises concerns about the process”.

Media bodies criticise arrest

The arrest was met with widespread criticism from the media fraternity as well as rights activists.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its affiliate, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), also condemned all charges against the journalist and demanded his immediate release.

“The arrest of senior journalist Farhan Mallick and the arbitrary raid of Raftar is a hugely concerning case of state harassment against a news outlet publishing in the public interest,” the IFJ said in a statement today.

“This case has much wider and worrying ramifications for the entire media sector in Pakistan and this state-instituted campaign against Mallick must stop. Journalists must be safeguarded for their right to report freely without fear of reprisal or retaliation,” it asserted.

The statement also quoted the PFUJ as condemning “the unlawful arrest of media personnel, and the registration of a fake case based on baseless allegations on a media manager”.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) had called for his immediate and unconditional release, saying that Pakistani authorities must “cease harassing journalists in retaliation for their journalistic work”.

“The alarming detention of prominent journalist Farhan Mallick, along with the disappearance of journalist Asif Karim Khehtran and the abduction of exiled journalist Ahmed Noorani’s brothers, shows how the Pakistani government has no regard for press freedom and independent journalism,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s Asia programme coordinator.

“This must stop, and the state of Pakistan should respect the law,” Lih Yi added, calling on officials to allow Mallick and “his media outlet to independently carry out their work”.

CPJ’s text messages requesting comment from Information Minister Attaullah Tarar received no response, the committee said.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan called on authorities to “check the overreach of agencies […] and uphold the right to freedom of expression”.

Pakistan is ranked 152 out of 180 countries in a press freedom index compiled by Reporters Without Borders.

The country has long been criticised by watchdogs for restricting internet access, including temporary bans on YouTube and TikTok, while X is officially blocked.

Source:dawn.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.dawn.com/news/1900244/journalist-farhan-mallick-sent-to-karachi-jail-over-alleged-anti-state-content

--------

Edhi Foundation funds $4m equipment at Karachi’s JPMC for free breast cancer treatment

March 25, 2025

The Edhi Foundation is funding breast cancer treatment equipment worth $4 million for Karachi’s Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre’s (JPMC) Breast Radiation Bay, named after Abdul Sattar and Bilquis Edhi.

The Edhi Foundation is the country’s premier social welfare organisation. The Bilquis & Abdul Sattar Edhi-Breast Radiation Bay is set to begin its services in April 2026 and will be jointly operated by the Patients Aid Foundation (PAF) and the Sindh government, according to a statement issued today from Dr Tariq Mahmood, professor emeritus of radiation oncology at JPMC.

“Every day, 160 breast cancer patients will get free of charge treatment on state-of-the-art Helix Tomotherapy units,” it said.

The statement said the units would utilise new technology for accurate localisation of lesions and deliver radiation with zero risk of unnecessary exposure to the heart.

It added that the Sindh government had also pledged to provide funds needed for the repair and maintenance of the equipment after the expiry of its annual warranty to ensure smooth and efficient operations.

“Breast cancer is a leading cause of death in females. Around 30,000 new breast cancer cases are diagnosed every year in Pakistan,” the statement said, adding that almost all cases of malignant breast cancer required surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatment.

It pointed out that even though surgery and chemotherapy facilities were widely available in the public and private sectors, slots for radiation therapy were not available for the timely management of cancer due to the lack of availability of linear accelerators in the country.

“Most of the centres in Pakistan, which are offering breast radiotherapy, are treating breast cancers with 2D/3D CRT, whereas the updated worldwide standard of care demands IMRT/VMAT radiotherapy and that is available at very few centres but the cost of treatment is beyond the reach of a common man,” it added.

The statement said that a new technology was introduced around the world to deliver radiation at an accurate site through Surface Guided Radiotherapy (SGRT) and Deep Inhalation Breath Hold (DIBH) to avoid unnecessary radiation exposure to healthy critical structures.

It said that to date, this technology was not available in Pakistan. “SGRT and DIBH saves women’s hearts from unnecessary exposure, and it is of extreme importance, especially in younger aged breast cancer patients,” the statement added.

It said PAF was working in a public-private partnership with the Sindh government and so far, JPMC’s bed capacity had been increased from 1,100 to 2,208 by constructing new buildings for various wards while outfitting them with the latest equipment and machinery, and ensuring their continuous maintenance.

The statement said that a further 600 bedded new projects were under completion.

The statement concluded by saying that JPCMC’s Radiation Oncology was the only centre in the world that offered “absolutely free of charge cancer treatment with cutting-edge technologies” irrespective of nationality, religion and ethnicity.

“So far, patients from 167 cities of Pakistan and 15 countries have availed this free facility,” the statement said.

Source:dawn.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.dawn.com/news/1900275/edhi-foundation-funds-4m-equipment-at-karachis-jpmc-for-free-breast-cancer-treatment

--------

EU-Pakistan business forum set to take place in May

Amin Ahmed | Nadir Guramani

March 25, 2025

The inaugural EU-Pakistan Business Forum is set to take place in Islamabad from May 14-15 to enhance economic cooperation, according to a joint announcement by the government and European Union delegation on Tuesday.

The EU is the largest single market in the world and the largest destination for Pakistani ex-ports. The EU is also the world’s largest foreign investor representing 42 per cent of outward foreign direct investment globally.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif reaffirmed Pakistan’s desire to further strengthen its cooperative partnership with the EU and welcomed the convening of the business forum.

“With a rapidly growing market of over 240 million people, competitive labour costs, strategic geographical access to Central and South Asia and a preferential trade access to the EU, Pakistan offers immense business opportunities,” the joint statement read.

The forum will bring together high-level policy makers — including the prime minister, ministers for finance and commerce — business leaders and CEOs from Pakistan and Europe, financial institutions such as the European Investment Bank, investors and other key stakeholders.

During the two day forum, Pakistan’s potential, innovation and best practices in key sectors (including agribusiness, energy and renewables, green logistics, pharmaceuticals, IT and textiles) will be showcased.

EU Ambassador Dr Riina Kionka said, “European companies are recognising Pakistan as a potential business destination. This forum serves as a vital platform to strengthen collaboration between European and Pakistani businesses, deepens bilateral trade, and explores new avenues for economic partnership.

“It also is an opportunity for Pakistan to benefit from the opportunities of Global Gateway”.

Besides dedicated Business-to-Business and Business-to-Government meetings, engaging discussions, dedicated exhibitions, the forum will also mark the launch of the EU-Pakistan Business Network — which will group together the 300 plus European companies active in Pakistan.

“The forum marks a crucial step in reinforcing the economic ties between Pakistan and the EU in the spirit of ‘Stronger Together’, paving the way for enhanced collaboration and mutual prosperity,” the statement read.

Source:dawn.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.dawn.com/news/1900260/eu-pakistan-business-forum-set-to-take-place-in-may

---------

Govt accepts Bilawal's offer to mediate with PTI

March 25, 2025

Adviser to the Prime Minister on Political and Public Affairs Rana Sanaullah on Tuesday said that that the federal government accepted Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s mediation offer and tasked him with holding negotiations with defiant Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

The development came a day after Bilawal, while addressing a ceremony at Governor House Lahore, offered to mediate between the government and opposition to facilitate a national dialogue and defuse the ongoing political tensions in the country.

He said: “I have informed the prime minister that the PPP is willing to act as a bridge between political forces to foster dialogue and cooperation.” The PPP leader said that his party remains open to dialogue with the government to facilitate constructive discussions.

Speaking on Geo News show 'Geo Pakistan' today, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Political and Public Affairs Rana Sanaullah said: “The government has accepted Bilawal’s mediation offer and assigned him the responsibility of holding talks with the PTI.”

“If Bilawal gets assurance from the PTI to attend the meeting, there is no problem in re-convening the National Security Committee meeting,” he added.

During his yesterday’s speech, the PPP leader called upon the incumbent government to take on board all political parties, including those that skipped the high-level moot on national security, to counter rising incidents of terrorism.

"Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif should convene another meeting, even if after a month… We hope to build a national consensus to combat terrorism," Bilawal asserted.

Responding to a question, the PM’s aide said the PPP was part of the coalition government in the Centre, adding that it would be their joint success if Bilawal succeeds in bringing PTI to the negotiation table.

It is pertinent to mention here that the former ruling party skipped the all-important March 18 in-camera meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security after its requested meeting with jailed party founder Imran Khan failed to materialise.

The party had demanded the government arrange a meeting between its leaders and the PTI founder, who is imprisoned at Rawalpindi's Adiala jail.

However, KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur attended the huddle in his capacity as the province's representative.

The high-level national meeting was convened by NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq on the advice of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif amid rising incidents of terrorism in the country in general and in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan in particular.

The military leadership briefed the lawmakers on the country's overall security situation.

NA security moot strongly condemned the recent incidents of terrorism in KP and Balochistan and expressed solidarity with the affected families. The huddle stressed the need for consensus and unified political commitment to combat terrorism with full force.

The committee had stressed strategic and concerted political resolve to counter the menace of terrorism with the full might of the state.

‘Chapter of talks with govt now closed’

In January this year, incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan called off negotiations with the government due to its failure to establish judicial commissions to probe May 9, 2023 riots as well the events from November 24 to November 27, 2024, in relation to the party’s protest in Islamabad.

Negotiations between the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)-led government and PTI began in late December last year in an effort to ease political tensions. The PTI however, called off the talks with the government after holding three sessions.

In February this year, PTI leader Omar Ayub Khan ruled out the possibility of resumption of the dialogue between the former ruling party and the incumbent government.

"The chapter of talks is now closed," Ayub said, adding that political negotiations were not based on mere wishes but required firm commitments, which the government failed to demonstrate.

The PTI leader said that his party’s committee had initiated discussions in good faith, but the other side neither displayed goodwill nor intent.

The PTI, which also presented its written charter of demands, refused to attend the fourth round of talks citing the government's failure to form a judicial commission to probe the May 9 riots and November 2024 protests.

Source:thenews.com.pk

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1295227-govt-accepts-bilawals-offer-to-mediate-with-pti

---------

Four 'facilitators' of Jaffar Express attack arrested: CTD sources

By Salman Ashraf

March 25, 2025

In a major development, four suspected facilitators of the March 11 terrorist attack on the Jaffar Express near Balochistan's Bolan district were arrested by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD), well-placed sources revealed on Tuesday.

Investigations into the terrorist attack on the passenger train were underway, CTD sources said, adding that they, along with other agencies, were working to trace and identify those involved in the attack.

Weapons and other communication devices recovered from the slain terrorists were sent for forensic analysis, the sources added.

The outlawed Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), during the attack on the Jaffar Express, blew up train tracks and held over 440 passengers hostage in a day-long standoff with security forces near a remote mountain pass in the Bolan district.

The military, after clearing the train and rescuing hostages, said it killed 33 attackers. Before the operation began, terrorists had martyred 26 passengers, while four security personnel were martyred during the operation.

Addressing a press conference on March 14, Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (DG ISPR) Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry termed India the main sponsor of terrorism in Balochistan, saying the latest attack on Jaffar Express was the continuation of the same policy.

Addressing a media briefing flanked by Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti, the DG ISPR said: “The latest attack in Balochistan and other terrorist incidents that took place in the past…we understand that the main sponsor of these [attacks] is your eastern neighbor.”

Lt Gen Chaudhry confirmed that three FC soldiers embraced martyrdom when the terrorists attacked Frontier Corps picket before the train was ambushed.

Giving a breakdown of the casualties in the incident, the DG ISPR revealed that 26 martyred train passengers included 18 security personnel from the army and the FC, three officials from Pakistan Railways and other departments and five civilians.

The military spokesperson said that they had five operation casualties.

The DG ISPR said that the terrorists stopped the Jaffar Express via an IED blast in hilly terrain where accessibility is difficult.

Lt Gen Chaudhry said the incident of Jaffar Express is a continuity of India's policy to sponsor terrorism in Pakistan.

“The incident of Jaffar Express is continuity of the same policy, the same sponsorship from where is it was engineered and from it was being pushed..,” he remarked.

Slamming the Indian media, the DG ISPR said that fake videos were created by using artificial intelligence (AI) to spread malicious propaganda regarding the Jaffar Express attack on social media platforms.

“Indian media spread propaganda by using the fake videos to exaggerate the situation,” he said.

“India media tried to create a narrative [against Pakistan] by airing fake videos,” he said, adding that the Indian media also played terrorists’ old videos taken from the social media.

Source:thenews.com.pk

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1295187-four-facilitators-of-jaffar-express-attack-arrested-ctd-sources

--------

Saddar's 500-vehicle parking facility to open after Eid, says Mayor Wahab

By Suleman Saadat

March 25, 2025

KARACHI: A newly developed parking facility with a capacity for 500 vehicles in Karachi's Saddar will be made operational after Eid, Mayor Murtaza Wahab announced during his visit to Empress Market.

He stated that longstanding parking challenges in the area were being tackled, with the new facility ready for use following the completion of paver work.

During his visit, Wahab inspected ongoing restoration work inside the historic landmark. He highlighted the efforts being made to improve its infrastructure while preserving its heritage.

The mayor also emphasised that Karachi’s roadside parking problems were being resolved, with additional parking areas under development, including one near Bolton Market.

To further ease congestion, measures to improve traffic flow in Saddar have been accelerated.

Wahab revealed that the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) had approached the Sindh governor, requesting the allocation of railway land for parking solutions.

"If we get the railway land, we can solve parking issues on II Chundrigar Road and nearby areas," he added.

In an interaction with reporters later, Wahab said that after Eid, a new bridge would be constructed at Quaidabad Murghi Khana.

Additionally, he said that another bridge would soon be opened adjacent to the Jam Sadiq Bridge, further improving connectivity in the city.

Commenting on ongoing infrastructure projects, Wahab acknowledged delays in the construction of the underpass at Meena Bazaar. However, he said that the Karimabad Meena Bazaar underpass would be completed within this year.

The mayor stressed that his administration was committed to addressing public concerns by efficiently utilising available resources. “The issue in Karachi has never been a lack of resources but rather a lack of intent,” he remarked.

Wahab also called for cooperation in city development, urging stakeholders to join hands in improving Karachi. “I invite everyone to sit with us and work together for the betterment of the city,” he said.

Highlighting broader infrastructure needs, Wahab emphasised the necessity of motorways in Karachi, Hyderabad, and Sukkur.

He questioned why the federal government had not initiated motorway projects in Sindh, saying that their absence forces heavy dumpers onto city roads, leading to congestion and safety hazards.

"Dumpers should be banned from entering city roads, but due to the lack of motorways, they continue to roam freely," he added.

Source:thenews.com.pk

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1295169-saddars-500-vehicle-parking-facility-to-open-after-eid-says-mayor-wahab

--------

 

Mideast

 

What the collapse of the Gaza ceasefire means for Palestinian civilians

ANAN TELLO

March 25, 2025

LONDON: On March 18, Gaza’s deadliest day since October 2023, Israel shattered the fragile ceasefire that had been in place since late January with a renewed wave of strikes, killing at least 400 people and injuring more than 560 in mere hours, according to local health authorities.

The raids, which Israeli officials claim are intended to pressure the Palestinian militant group Hamas to release its remaining hostages held in Gaza, targeted northern, central, and southern areas, in the wake of a three-week aid embargo during the holy month of Ramadan.

In a statement issued on Telegram, Hamas accused Israel of attacking “defenseless civilians,” adding that fuel shortages, blocked roads, and the worsening humanitarian situation had resulted in many of the wounded succumbing to their injuries before reaching hospitals.

The militant group urged US, Egyptian, and Qatari mediators to hold Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government “fully responsible” for “violating and overturning” the ceasefire.

In a post on X, Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz insisted his country was fighting against Hamas and not Gaza’s civilians.

“But when Hamas fights in civilian dress, from civilian homes, and from behind civilians, it puts civilians in danger and they pay a horrible price. That is why we are urging Gazans to evacuate combat zones,” he said.

Analysts and humanitarian agencies have condemned Israel’s renewed assault on Gaza. Amjad Iraqi, an Israel-Palestine expert at the International Crisis Group, told Arab News: “Palestinian civilians in Gaza are being collectively punished.”

“Israel has cut off virtually all aid, electricity, and water to 2.3 million people since early March, and is now relaunching devastating airstrikes and evacuation orders in hopes of either pressuring Hamas into further concessions or inducing Gazans’ forced expulsion,” he said.

“The weaponization of humanitarian aid and basic necessities knowingly threatens the civilian population’s very survival and its ability to recover after a year and a half of a brutal war.”

This assessment was echoed by Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN Relief and Works Agency, who likewise described the aid ban as “collective punishment” against a population largely composed of “children, women and ordinary men.”

The renewed blockade, in place since March 4, has left residents facing severe food insecurity, with prices for essentials at least tripling, according to residents of Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza.

The closure of all border crossings for humanitarian and commercial supplies has prevented the UN World Food Programme from delivering any supplies into Gaza since early March.

“No food, no medicines, no water, no fuel,” Lazzarini wrote in a post on X on March 23. “Every day without food inches Gaza closer to an acute hunger crisis.”

In October, prior to the ceasefire, the UN warned that 1.84 million people across Gaza were experiencing crisis-level food insecurity, including nearly 133,000 facing catastrophic levels and 664,000 at emergency levels.

Aid workers, hospitals, homes, and schools serving as shelters have all suffered war damage. Airstrikes and artillery fire have also hit tents housing displaced people, a pattern the UN Human Rights Office, or OHCHR, says it has extensively documented since October 2023.

The Geneva-headquartered Medecins Sans Frontieres said in a statement that its teams were “horrified” by the resumption of air attacks.

On March 21, the MSF announced the death of one of its staff members, Alaa Abd-Elsalam Ali Okal, who was reportedly killed in an Israeli airstrike on his apartment building in Deir Al-Balah.

The organization said it was “shocked and saddened” by the loss, which brings the total number of MSF staff killed since October 2023 to 10.

The US-based MedGlobal also voiced concern for its staff and international volunteers in the Gaza Strip. It said on Sunday night that Israel had bombed Nasser Hospital — one of the last operational facilities where its teams were working — without warning or an evacuation order.

The hospital, located in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, was reportedly hit by an Israeli airstrike, killing at least five people and injuring several others. Among the dead was Hamas political bureau member Ismail Barhoum, who was receiving treatment at the facility.

The attacks “appear to be the prelude to a broader Israeli ground campaign in Gaza, and not just a shock-and-awe tactic to scare Hamas into accepting Israel’s unilateral revision of the agreed ceasefire terms,” Max Rodenbeck, Israel-Palestine project director at the International Crisis Group, told Arab News.

“The Netanyahu government wants the optics of victory more than it wants to retrieve hostages. The price for this is hundreds more Palestinian civilians killed.”

Indeed, Netanyahu has said the latest airstrikes are “only the beginning,” vowing to continue the offensive until Israel destroys Hamas and frees all hostages held by the militant group.

Prior to March 18, Netanyahu accused Hamas of repeatedly refusing to release the remaining 59 hostages — 24 of whom are thought to be alive — taken on Oct. 7, 2023, during the militant group’s unprecedented attack in southern Israel that triggered the war on Gaza.

However, Hamas has denied rejecting a proposal from US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, instead accusing Israel of breaking the truce by reneging on its commitment to enter the second phase of the ceasefire deal.

The militant group said the US “bears full responsibility for the massacres” in Gaza, after the White House confirmed Israel consulted the Donald Trump administration before resuming airstrikes.

Alongside Barhoum, the recent airstrikes have killed several senior Hamas officials, including Gaza’s top political leader and ministers. On Sunday, Hamas confirmed lawmaker Salah Al-Bardawil was killed in an Israeli strike on western Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

Israel’s defense minister, Katz, warned on March 19 that Gaza would face “significantly worse” strikes if the remaining hostages were not released and Hamas was not expelled. Katz also suggested that Palestinians should consider “relocating to other parts of the world.”

“The alternative is utter destruction and devastation,” he added.

The Israeli military has already mounted “limited” ground operations in northern Gaza. It said on Saturday that troops had begun operating in the Beit Hanoun area “to target Hamas’ terror infrastructure sites in order to expand the security zone in northern Gaza.”

Katz announced plans to “seize additional areas in Gaza, evacuate the population, and expand security zones around Gaza to protect Israeli communities and soldiers.”

The escalating military campaign has raised concerns about the safety of the hostages.

Hamas has accused Israel of endangering the captives’ lives, a view echoed by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum in Israel. The forum expressed “shock and anger” at what it called “the deliberate disruption” of efforts to return loved ones from Hamas captivity.

This criticism aligns with broader skepticism about Israel’s strategy in Gaza.

Mairav Zonszein, a senior Israel analyst with the International Crisis Group, argued that Israel’s operation in Gaza “will not achieve either of its war goals: to defeat Hamas and to bring the hostages home.”

“Most Israelis oppose resuming the war, many at least supporting a continued ceasefire to save the hostages,” she told Arab News.

“The idea that military strikes will pressure Hamas to release hostages without an end to the war is unrealistic at best, and disingenuous at worst.”

Public frustration with Netanyahu’s decision to resume the war was evident on Saturday night when more than 100,000 Israelis staged protests in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and other cities.

“All of this is happening as Netanyahu moves to fire his general security chief amid an investigation into advisers in his office, on top of his ongoing corruption trial and the looming deadline to pass the budget by the end of March,” Zonszein added.

The greatest toll, however, has fallen on Gazans, who have endured nearly 18 months of violence and displacement.

“Children and families in Gaza have barely caught their breath and are now being plunged back into a horrifically familiar world of harm that they cannot escape,” said Ahmad Alhendawi, Save the Children’s regional director, in a statement on March 18.

“This latest slaughter was on starved, besieged, defenseless families,” he added.

Since Oct. 7, 2023, Israeli airstrikes and ground operations have killed at least 50,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 113,000 others in Gaza, according to the enclave’s health authority.

Some 1.9 million Gazans — 90 percent of the population — have been displaced multiple times. When the fragile ceasefire began in January, hundreds of thousands returned to the rubble of their homes and neighborhoods.

However, the resumption of hostilities has forced war-weary Gazans back into a cycle of displacement, fleeing one danger zone only to be thrust into another.

“There is no resilience,” an aid official in Gaza told The Guardian newspaper. “People … are in a very weak state, physically and psychologically.”

The OHCHR warned that Israel’s continued block of humanitarian aid, Gaza’s catastrophic shelter crisis, and limited access to life-saving services will likely worsen the impact of mass displacement.

Shocked by the resumption of strikes, Gazans have turned to social media to share their stories of renewed upheaval.

“Children’s bodies line morgue refrigerator floors; there’s no more room for the dead,” Anees Ghanima posted. “Has the world really gotten too small to hold us?”

Another Gazan, Khaled Safi, wrote: “The war on Gaza has returned while they are fasting, hungry, asleep, and haunted by death at every moment.”

With the situation deteriorating, a return to diplomatic solutions seems more urgent than ever.

“The parameters of the January ceasefire must be restored and linked to the Arab League’s ‘day after’ framework presented on March 4,” Iraqi of the International Crisis Group said.

“This framework is the only basis for a meaningful way to save Palestinian lives, return the hostages, tame Hamas under national and regional oversight, and restore a measure of stability.

“Diplomacy and leverage from Arab states — particularly vis-a-vis the US as the main actor to influence and press Israel — will be critical in determining whether this can be achieved.”

Source:arabnews.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2594848/middle-east

---------

Anti-Hamas slogans chanted at hundreds-strong protest in Gaza

March 25, 2025

BEIT LAHIA: Hundreds of Palestinians shouted anti-Hamas slogans at a protest in northern Gaza on Tuesday calling for an end to the war with Israel, witnesses said.

“Hamas out” and “Hamas terrorists” were chanted by the mostly male demonstrators in Beit Lahia, where the crowd had gathered a week after the Israeli army resumed its intense bombing of Gaza following nearly two months of a truce.

On the social media network Telegram, at least one appeal to protest was circulating on Tuesday.

“I don’t know who organized the protest,” said Mohammed, a demonstrator who declined to give his last name for fear of reprisals.

“I took part to send a message on behalf of the people: Enough with the war,” he said, adding that he had seen “members of the Hamas security forces in civilian clothing breaking up the protest.”

Majdi, another protester who did not wish to give his full name, said the “people are tired.”

“If Hamas leaving power in Gaza is the solution, why doesn’t Hamas give up power to protect the people?” he asked.

The Gaza Strip has been devastated by more than 17 months of war between Israel and Hamas, with the humanitarian situation again deteriorating after Israel blocked the passage of aid into the territory on March 2 in an attempt to force the militants to release Israeli hostages.

Since Israel resumed its military operations in Gaza, at least 792 Palestinians have been killed, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

The war was sparked by the militant group’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 50,021 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry.

Source:arabnews.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2594837/middle-east

--------

Syria slams ‘flagrant’ Israeli violation after deadly bombardment

March 25, 2025

DAMASCUS: Syria slammed Israeli attacks as a “flagrant violation” of its sovereignty after deadly bombardment Tuesday in the country’s south, where Israel’s military said it had responded to incoming fire.

The violence near the UN-patrolled buffer zone on the Golan Heights followed Israeli air strikes in central Syria, the latest in a string of attacks on military sites since militants overthrew longtime president Bashar Assad.

The Syrian foreign ministry in a statement condemned “the continued Israeli aggression on Syrian territory, which saw a dangerous escalation in the village of Kuwayya” in the southern Daraa province.

It said “heavy artillery and air bombardment targeted residential and farming areas, leading to the death of six civilians,” raising an earlier toll provided by local authorities.

“This escalation comes in the context of a series of violations that started with Israeli forces’ penetrating into Quneitra and Daraa provinces, in an ongoing aggression on Syrian territory, in flagrant violation of national sovereignty and international law,” the ministry said.

Earlier Tuesday, the Israeli military said that its troops “identified several terrorists who opened fire toward them in southern Syria,” without providing a specific location.

“The troops returned fire in response and the IAF (air force) struck the terrorists,” it added in a statement.

Daraa governor Anwar Al-Zoabi said in a statement that “Israeli occupation army violations and repeated attacks on Syrian territory pushed a group of residents to clash with a military force that tried to penetrate” Kuwayya, northwest of Daraa city.

The situation “led to an escalation” by Israeli forces “with artillery shelling and drone bombardment,” said the statement posted on Telegram.

Provincial authorities said some 350 families had fled to shelters in a nearby village.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor that relies on a network of sources inside Syria, has reported near-daily Israeli military incursions into southern Syria beyond the demarcation line in recent months.

The foreign ministry in neighboring Jordan condemned Tuesday’s incursion and bombardment as “a dangerous escalation” that risked fueling “further conflict and tension in the region.”

Qatar’s foreign ministry in a statement also slammed the attack, calling it “a brazen violation of international law.”

Israel has launched hundreds of strikes on military sites since Assad’s fall in December, saying it wants to prevent weapons from falling into the hands of the new authorities, whom it considers extremists.

On Tuesday the Israeli military said it had “struck military capabilities that remained at the Syrian military bases of Tadmur and T4,” referring to a base in Palmyra and another 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of the city.

On Friday, the military carried out strikes on the same bases.

Israel has also deployed troops to the Golan Heights buffer zone, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has demanded the demilitarization of southern Syria, which borders the Israeli-annexed Golan.

United Nations special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen told the Security Council on Tuesday that he was “concerned by Israeli statements on the intention to stay in Syria” and demands for the full demilitarization of the south.

At an Arab summit in Cairo in early March, Syria’s interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa called on the international community to pressure Israel to “immediately” withdraw its troops from southern Syria, calling it a “direct threat” to peace in the region.

Source:arabnews.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2594835/middle-east

---------

Israel army kills Palestinian identified as Hamas fighter in West Bank

March 25, 2025

RAMALLAH: Israel’s security forces said they killed a Palestinian, identified by Hamas as one of its fighters, in a raid in the occupied West Bank city of Qalqilya before dawn on Tuesday.

The Ramallah-based Palestinian ministry of health said a young man it identified as 19-year-old Baraa Yusuf was killed by Israeli forces in the early morning in Qalqilya.

In a joint statement, Israel’s police, military and internal intelligence agency said Israeli forces killed a Palestinian “who was planning an imminent attack” in a raid carried out “during the night.”

They said the target of the raid “intended to carry out an attack against Israeli civilians in the immediate future” and began firing at police officers, who returned fire, killing him.

The statement said two other individuals “were neutralized” during the exchange of fire, in which Israeli forces used “shoulder-launched missiles, an explosive drone, and live ammunition.”

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa cited Palestinian security sources as saying that the Israeli army opened fire on Yusuf while he was inside a shop, wounding two other Palestinians after he refused to surrender.

Hamas said on Telegram that Yusuf, known as “Miskawi,” was a member of its armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades.

He had been released in November 2023 as part of a hostage-prisoner exchange deal between Hamas and Israel during an early truce in the war in Gaza.

Violence has soared throughout the West Bank since the war in Gaza broke out.

Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 913 Palestinians, including many militants, in the West Bank since the start of the war, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

At least 32 Israelis, including soldiers, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or Israeli military operations, according to official Israeli figures.

Source:arabnews.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2594830/middle-east

---------

Islamic Jihad Movement: Occupation's renewed targeting of journalists reflects deliberate bloody approach

25 Mar 2025

The Islamic Jihad Movement said on Monday that the Israeli enemy army's renewed targeting of journalists and media professionals in the Gaza Strip, including Palestine Today Channel correspondent Mohammed Mansour, who was targeted with his family inside their home in the Gaza Strip, and the martyr Hussam Shabat, along with the targeting of others, is a brutal attack that "reflects a deliberate bloody approach."

The movement affirmed in a statement that these crimes come within the context of an escalation campaign aimed at obscuring the truth and concealing the occupation's crimes, "silencing the free voices documenting the occupation's crimes and brutality against our people. It also represents a direct assassination of eyewitnesses who reveal to the world the atrocities and hateful crimes of the occupation."

Jihad added that targeting journalists is a war crime, and international institutions, foremost among them the United Nations and human rights organizations, bear responsibility for its silence, which emboldens the occupation to commit more crimes.

Source:saba.ye

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.saba.ye/en/news3456445.htm

--------

Turkiye, US want to lift defense industry restrictions after talks, Turkish source says

March 26, 2025

ANKARA/WASHINGTON: Turkiye and the United States want to remove obstacles to defense industry cooperation, a Turkish Foreign Ministry source said on Wednesday, after talks between the NATO allies’ top diplomats in Washington.

On Tuesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan kicked off a two-day visit to Washington, where he was expected to ask Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other US officials to remove US sanctions on Turkiye and allow it back into a crucial fighter jet program.

The visit comes as Ankara seeks warmer ties with Washington under the administration of President Donald Trump and just days after a phone call between Trump and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan that a top Trump aide described as “transformational.”

The top Turkish diplomat’s visit also comes at a critical time for Erdogan, after his main political rival and Istanbul’s mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, was jailed pending trial on Sunday, prompting the largest anti-government protests in over a decade.

Ties between the US and Turkiye have drifted away from a strategic partnership in recent years as disagreements between the two long-standing treaty allies have widened.

The administration of former President Joe Biden kept Turkiye at arm’s length over what it saw as the fellow NATO member’s close ties with Russia. Under Trump, who views Moscow much more favorably, Ankara is hoping for a warmer relationship with Washington. It also plans to capitalize on the personal ties between the two leaders.

During the meeting between Fidan and Rubio on Tuesday, both sides “clearly put forth their political will to lift obstacles to cooperation in the defense industry field,” the source said, adding they also followed up on matters discussed between Trump and Erdogan.

“Technical talks will be held for the resolution of existing problems,” the person added, without elaborating.

During his first term, Trump initially ignored advice from his aides to impose sanctions on Turkiye under its Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) over Ankara’s acquisition of Russian S-400 air defense missile systems in 2019. He then took the step in 2020.

That acquisition also led to Turkiye’s removal from the F-35 jet program, where it was a manufacturer and buyer. Ankara says its removal is unjust and illegal, and has demanded to rejoin or be reimbursed for its investment in the program.

Conversations between the allies on how to resolve the S-400 deadlock were ongoing under Biden. Turkiye had pledged to keep the systems non-operational, a source familiar with the discussions said, but a breakthrough never came.

A Turkish official, requesting anonymity, told Reuters ahead of Fidan’s visit that Ankara was aiming to agree with Washington that keeping the S-400s non-operational can be enough to resolve the matter.

RUSSIA IMPACT

During the Biden era, the allies had settled into a new phase of relations, with a more transactional focus rather than based on shared values, as differences over policies on Syria, the war in Gaza, and judicial matters persisted.

Since coming back into office on January 20, Trump upended Biden’s policy to isolate Moscow and provide unwavering support to Kyiv and instead focused on ending Russia’s war in Ukraine. His shift spooked European leaders who feared Washington could be turning its back to Europe and bolstered Ankara’s role as a potential partner in reshaping European security.

The Turkish official said discussions between Washington and Ankara had “taken a new dimension” after Trump’s shift in approach to Moscow.

“If US sanctions on Russia are to be lifted, it becomes illogical for CAATSA to be implemented on third countries. As much as this issue is about Turkiye-USA ties, it is also about Turkiye-Russia ties,” the official added.

Sources familiar with the matter said the phone call between Erdogan and Trump may bring positive momentum to conversations in coming days, though no promises were made.

“The president had a great conversation with Erdogan a couple of days ago. Really transformational, I would describe it,” Trump’s special envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff said in an interview with right-wing podcaster Tucker Carlson.

Exclusion from the F-35 program pushed Turkiye to purchase 40 Lockheed Martin Block-70 F-16 fighter jets. However, despite agreeing on the procurement, there has been little progress on the acquisition for months.

The Turkish source said Fidan and Rubio also discussed head of state-level visits to be held in the coming period, without elaborating.

The two also emphasized the importance of stability in Syria and in the Balkans, while discussing efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war, and the need for a ceasefire in Gaza, the source added.

Source:arabnews.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2594858/middle-east

--------

100,000 Palestinians perform prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque

March 26, 2025

LONDON: Around 100,000 Palestinians performed the evening and Taraweeh prayers on the 25th day of the holy month of Ramadan at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem on Tuesday, despite Israeli restrictions.

Ramadan, a month of fasting and worship for Muslims from sunrise to sunset, is set to conclude at the weekend. The last 10 days of the holy month are a time when some Muslims dedicate themselves to worship.

The Jerusalem Waqf and Al-Aqsa Mosque Affairs Department, which is responsible for administering the site, said that most of the 100,000 worshippers were residents of Jerusalem and Palestinian citizens of Israel.

However, thousands of Palestinians from various cities and towns in the occupied West Bank were prevented from entering Jerusalem due to Israeli military checkpoints. Restrictive measures have been implemented by Israel since the start of Ramadan and age and security screenings have played a part in determining whether access to the city is allowed.

Upon the conclusion of Ramadan on Saturday or Sunday, majority-Muslim countries celebrate the holiday of Eid Al-Fitr over three days, marking the festivities of breaking the fast with family visits and trips.

Source:arabnews.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2594853/middle-east

-------

UN officials call for ‘fast and broad’ easing of sanctions as Syria faces fragile transition

EPHREM KOSSAIFY

March 25, 2025

NEW YORK CITY: As Syria grapples with the aftermath of 14 years of civil war, UN leaders on Tuesday called for a “fast and broad” easing of the sanctions on the country, as they stressed the need for urgent international action to support a fragile political transition and address an escalating humanitarian crisis.

“We need to see fast and broad sanctions-easing, with relevant targeted and sectoral suspensions, including in energy, investments, finance, health and education,” said Geir Pedersen, the UN’s special envoy for Syria.

“Some steps have been taken but more is needed if Syrians are to be given the chance to recover. It is essential that sanctioning states consider the important restrictions that still persist and that hamper response.”

He was speaking during a meeting of the Security Council in New York to discuss the “immense challenges” facing the country four months after the fall of the Assad regime.

It comes amid several significant developments on the political and security fronts in Syria. This month, sectarian violence between the caretaker authorities and their affiliates on one hand, and Alawite fighters on the other, has left hundreds of civilians dead in the western coastal governorates of Latakia and Tartous. This represents the most dangerous escalation of violence in the country since the fall of former president Bashar Assad and his government in December.

“The scale and sophistication of these attacks were striking,” Pedersen said.

Despite the ongoing violence there and elsewhere, including areas such as Aleppo, northeastern Syria and southern regions, Pedersen remained cautiously optimistic about recent peace agreements, including one between the Syrian Democratic Forces and the interim national authorities.

“The agreement offers hope for more effective humanitarian access and a path forward in northeast Syria,” he said.

A credible political transition is an important step in ensuring long-term stability, he added, and the UN has been pushing for a more inclusive and transparent process as the country prepares for the appointment of transitional authorities.

“Syrians await the announcement of a transitional government and a legislative council that reflects the country’s diversity,” Pedersen said. He called for further cooperation on constitutional and security-sector reforms, and efforts to ensure accountability for past atrocities.

He noted that “there was a sense of exclusion from the transition and the public sector, and there were pent-up grievances and anger towards persons associated with the former regime.”

He also emphasized the critical need for international investment in the reconstruction process.

“Syrians need an economic future and they need serious international support to enable it,” he said, as he urged the international community to consider the easing of sanctions and provide the vital assistance required to help rebuild shattered infrastructure.

Tom Fletcher, the UN’s under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, told council members that there was a “real sense of progress” in efforts to scale up humanitarian efforts in Syria. Cross-border aid deliveries from Turkiye have been significantly expanded, allowing relief teams to reach key areas such as Damascus and Homs, he said.

“We’re engaging with various member states to further ease sanctions and restrictions that affect our operations,” Fletcher added.

“Through this combination of efforts we, on your behalf, are getting support to millions of people across Syria each month.”

He noted the critical role of international partners in this effort, and acknowledged in particular Qatar’s contribution to the provision of electricity for Syrians, via Jordan, and infrastructure projects such as the reopening of the Atareb Water Station in Aleppo, which is now serving about 40,000 people.

However, he warned that adequate funding remains a major obstacle.

“The outlook is gloomy,” Fletcher said. “Our initial survey suggests that almost half of US-funded organizations have received full or partial stop orders, with a 40 per cent cut in humanitarian staff.

“This year, we are appealing for $2 billion to reach 8 million of the most vulnerable people through June. So far, we’ve received only about $155 million, just 13 percent of what we need.”

The funding shortfalls continue to impede life-saving operations, he added.

Both Pedersen and Fletcher warned that the stakes are high and the cost of hesitation in the face of Syria’s transition would be far greater than any investment needed to help foster a lasting peace.

“But there is no time to spare,” Fletcher said. “Let us be problem-solvers rather than problem-observers. We need to move with greater urgency, while we can. The price of failure will far outweigh the investment we are asking for.

“The people of Syria deserve the chance to see through the monumental task ahead and build a peaceful, prosperous and inclusive future. We must respond to their aspirations with energy and ambition.”

Source:arabnews.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2594850/middle-east

---------

Turkiye protesters fill streets, defying crackdown

March 25, 2025

ISTANBUL: Thousands of protesters returned to the streets of Istanbul on Tuesday after a week of the biggest protests to hit Türkiye in over a decade, defying a crackdown that has seen almost 1,500 arrested.

The demonstrations erupted after the arrest of the mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu, the main political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in a move opposition supporters see as a blatant violation of the rule of law.

The authorities have hit back with a crackdown that has alarmed rights groups, with seven journalists who covered the protests remanded in custody by an Istanbul court on Tuesday.

Among them was AFP photographer Yasin Akgul, drawing a sharp rebuke from the Paris-based news agency.

“His imprisonment is unacceptable. This is why I am asking you to intervene as quickly as possible to obtain the rapid release of our journalist,” the agency’s CEO and chairman Fabrice Fries said in a letter to the Turkish presidency.

The court charged Akgul, 35, and the others with “taking part in illegal rallies and marches,” though Fries said Akgul was “not part of the protest” but only covering it as a journalist.

Media freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) denounced the decision as “scandalous,” with its Türkiye representative Erol Onderoglu saying it “reflects a very serious situation in Turkiye.”

Vast crowds have defied a protest ban to hit the streets daily since the Mar. 19 arrest of Imamoglu, with the unrest spreading across Türkiye and prompting nightly clashes with security forces.

In the face of the biggest protests in Türkiye since the 2013 Gezi uprising over the redevelopment of an Istanbul park, Erdogan has remained defiant, denouncing the rallies as “street terror.”

“Those who spread terror in the streets and want to set fire to this country have nowhere to go. The path they have taken is a dead end,” Erdogan, who has now ruled the NATO member for a quarter of a century, said on Tuesday.

But as he spoke thousands of students marched through the Sisli district of Istanbul, whose mayor Resul Emrah Sahan was jailed in the same case as Imamoglu, heading for the district’s municipal headquarters.

They chanted “government, resign!” and waved flags and banners with slogans including “Tayyip resign!” as a large deployment of riot police watched, while people in apartments above bashed pots to show their approval.

Many had their faces covered with scarves or masks, and acknowledged they feared being identified by the police.

“We can’t express ourselves freely,” a student who gave her name as Nisa told AFP, saying she nonetheless joined the protest “to defend democracy.”

Separately, thousands also rallied for the seventh straight night in a protest organized by Imamoglu’s Republican People’s Party (CHP) in the Sarachane district, home of the Istanbul city hall that Imamoglu ran since 2019.

Girding for what could be a long standoff, CHP leader Ozgur Ozel called a mass rally for Saturday in Istanbul that he said would be the “largest open-air referendum in history” and would press for early elections.

“Are you ready for a big rally in a large square in Istanbul on Saturday to support Imamoglu, to object to his arrest, to demand transparent, open trials, to say we have had enough and we want early elections?” Ozel asked protesters, telling them the rally would be held in the vast Maltepe grounds on the Asian side of Istanbul.

In a possible change of tactics to focus efforts on Saturday’s rally, he said he would not call for another Sarachane protest on Wednesday.

With riot police using water cannon, pepper spray and rubber bullets against protesters, the Council of Europe denounced a “disproportionate” use of force while Human Rights Watch said it was a “dark time for democracy” in Türkiye.

The United Nations also voiced alarm at Türkiye’s use of mass detentions and its “unlawful blanket ban on protests,” urging the authorities to probe any unlawful use of force.

By Tuesday, police had detained 1,418 suspects for taking part in “illegal demonstrations,” Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya wrote on X, warning there would be “no concessions” for those who “terrorize the streets.”

But Ozel told the Sarachane crowd: “We do not decrease in numbers with arrests — there will be even more of us.”

He added the extent of the crackdown was such that there was “no room left in Istanbul prisons.”

Source:arabnews.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2594849/middle-east

--------

A sense of ease in new Syria after iron-fisted Assad rule

March 25, 2025

DAMASCUS: Sahar Diab had visited Damascus’s famed Umayyad Mosque previously. But as the Syrian lawyer went there to pray during her country’s first Ramadan after the end of the Assad family’s iron-fisted rule, she felt something new, something priceless: A sense of ease.

“The rituals have become much more beautiful,” she said. “Before, we were restricted in what we could say ... now, there’s freedom.”

This Ramadan, such are the realities of a Syria undergoing complex transition. Relief, hope and joy at new openings — after 53 years of the Assad dynasty’s reign, prolonged civil war and crushing economic woes — intermingle with uncertainty, fear by some, and a particularly bloody and worrisome wave of violence.

“We’re not afraid of anything,” Diab said. She wants her country to be rebuilt and to get rid of Assad-era “corruption and bribery.”

At the Umayyad Mosque, the rituals were age-old: A woman using a prayer bead and kissing a copy of the Qur’an; the faithful standing shoulder-to-shoulder and prostrating in prayer; the Umayyad’s iconic and unusual group call to prayer, recited by several people.

The sermon, by contrast, was fiery in delivery and new in message.

The speaker, often interrupted by loud chants of “God is great,” railed against Assad and hailed the uprising against him.

“Our revolution is not a sectarian revolution even though we’d been slaughtered by the sword of sectarianism,” he said.

This Ramadan, Syrians marked the 14th anniversary of the start of their country’s civil war. The conflict began as one of several popular uprisings against Arab dictators, before Assad crushed what started as largely peaceful protests and a civil war erupted.

Many Syrians speak of omnipresent fear under Assad, often citing the Arabic saying, “the walls have ears,” reflecting that speaking up even privately didn’t feel safe. They talk of hardships, injustices and brutality. Now, for example, many celebrate freedom from dreaded Assad-era checkpoints.

“They would harass us,” said Ahmed Saad Aldeen, who came to the Umayyad Mosque from the city of Homs. “You go out ... and you don’t know whether you’ll return home or not.”

He said more than a dozen cousins are missing; a search for them in prisons proved futile.

Mohammed Qudmani said even going to the mosque caused anxiety for some before, for fear of getting on security forces’ radar screen or being labeled a “terrorist.”

Now, Damascus streets are bedecked with the new three-starred flag, not long ago a symbol of Assad’s opponents. It flutters from poles and is plastered to walls, sometimes with the words “God is great” handwritten on it.

One billboard declares this the “Ramadan of victory.” On a government building, the faces of former Presidents Bashar and Hafez Assad are partly cut off from a painting; in their place, “The Freedom” is scribbled in Arabic.

Haidar Haidar, who owns a sweets shop, said he was touched that new security force members gave him water and dates while he was out when a call to prayer signaled that those fasting can eat and drink.

“We never saw such things here,” he said, adding that he used to recite Qur’anic verses for protection before passing through Assad’s checkpoints.

Many dream of a new Syria, but exactly how that would look remains uncertain.

Damascus resident Wassim Bassimah said Syrians must be mindful to protect their country from sliding back into civil war and should maintain a dialogue that is inclusive of all. “The external enemies are still there.”

Source:arabnews.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2594846/middle-east

--------

Martyr Abu Abdul team advances to Hajjah Ramadan football final

25 Mar 2025

Martyr Abu Abdul Team has secured a spot in the final of the Hajjah province Ramadan Football Championship, defeating al-Ameed Team with a 1-0 victory on Tuesday.

Abdo Mabrouk scored the decisive goal, propelling his team to the championship match. The semifinal was officiated by Sameer al-Nafish and his assistants, Khaled al-Awami and Abdullah al-Shater, with Moeen Bakhit serving as the fourth referee.

The remaining finalist will be determined on Wednesday, as the Red Crescent Team faces Shabab Tihama in a crucial match. The championship is organized by the Yemeni Football Federation branch under the supervision of the Youth and Sports Office.

Source:saba.ye

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.saba.ye/en/news3456470.htm

------

Sunni voice: Iraq’s Diyala chairman resignation hinges on fair share

2025-03-25

Shafaq News/ Omar al-Karawi, reinstated as Chairman of the Diyala Provincial Council by court order on Tuesday, described the ruling as “a form of justice.”

Al-Karawi dismissed claims that the decision was a political victory over rivals, but a constitutional right of the Sunni component, expressing readiness to step down if fair representation is upheld. “I am not attached to the post,” al-Karawi stated, emphasizing the council’s duty to represent all constituents in Diyala.

He called on political factions to attend a meeting on Wednesday to outline a “roadmap” for resolving the province’s crisis, cautioning against what he described as “soft coups.” The chairman also warned that disregarding power-sharing agreements made in Baghdad would risk further destabilization.

The Administrative Judiciary Court earlier annulled Sunday’s council session that removed al-Karawi and appointed Nizar al-Lahibi. Al-Karawi’s dismissal, backed by 12 out of 15 council members, followed an interrogation session and drew criticism over alleged political interference.

Source:shafaq.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://shafaq.com/en/Iraq/Sunni-voice-Iraq-s-Diyala-chairman-resignation-hinges-on-fair-share

------

 

Arab World

 

Saudi Arabia cracks down on non-compliant Umrah transport

March 25, 2025

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Transport General Authority, in collaboration with relevant authorities, has apprehended several violators for transporting Umrah performers using non-compliant buses as part of a field control initiative it conducted.

The authority clarified that this campaign is part of its ongoing monitoring efforts to ensure that transport facilities comply with regulations, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Tuesday.

The initiative aims to enhance the safety and security of Umrah performers, and the authority has urged all establishments to adhere to the approved regulations.

It emphasized that these campaigns are designed to enhance compliance, elevate service quality, and ensure the safety of transport service users, SPA added.

Recently, the Transport General Authority fined over 400 foreign trucks in several regions of the Kingdom for regulatory offenses.

Source:arabnews.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2594785/saudi-arabia

--------

Over 17 million iftar meals served at Two Holy Mosques during 21 days of Ramadan

March 25, 2025

MAKKAH — The General Authority for the Care of the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque announced that it had distributed 17,020,216 iftar meals among worshipers at the Two Holy Mosques during the first 21 days of Ramadan. This was in collaboration with various charitable organizations.

Additionally, 17,190,000 packets of dates were distributed as part of the authority’s efforts to serve visitors, including the continuous provision of Zamzam water. During this period, 27,105 cubic meters of Zamzam water were consumed, equivalent to about 150,614,000 cups or 721,774 bottles.

The authority emphasized its commitment to maintaining the cleanliness of the Two Holy Mosques throughout the day to ensure a safe and healthy environment, removing 4,529 tons of waste during this period.

Source:saudigazette.com.sa

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://saudigazette.com.sa/article/650428/SAUDI-ARABIA/Over-17-million-iftar-meals-served-at-Two-Holy-Mosques-during-21-days-of-Ramadan

--------

White House thanks Saudi crown prince for facilitating Russia and Ukraine talks

March 26, 2025

RIYADH: The White House on Tuesday thanked Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on facilitating important talks on safe navigation in the Black Sea.

A White House statement said: “The United States expresses gratitude to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for his leadership and hospitality in once again facilitating these important discussions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”

The US reached separate agreements with Russia and Ukraine in the Saudi capital Riyadh to keep the waterway, a vital route for agricultural goods, secure.

The two warring parties came to Saudi Arabia to discuss, with US and Saudi officials, first steps on settling crucial issues in the hopes of then reaching a wider resolution to the conflict.

Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 and has annexed parts of the country.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised the talks and said they were early steps toward a peaceful settlement.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said: “We will need clear guarantees. And given the sad experience of agreements with just Kyiv, the guarantees can only be the result of an order from Washington to Zelensky and his team to do one thing and not the other.”

Source:arabnews.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2594861/saudi-arabia

---------

Governor opens new Altanfeethi Lounge at Madinah airport

March 25, 2025

MADINAH: Madinah Gov. Prince Salman bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz has opened the new Altanfeethi Lounge at Prince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz International Airport.

Spanning 1,200 sq. meters, the lounge can accommodate over 240,000 passengers annually, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

The inauguration was attended by the General Authority of Civil Aviation’s President Abdulaziz Al-Duailej, and Mohammed Alkhuraisi, the chairman of the Altanfeethi Company’s board of directors, along with regional civil and military officials.

Source:arabnews.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2594838/saudi-arabia

--------

KSrelief expands food aid across global crisis zones

March 25, 2025

RIYADH: The Kingdom’s aid agency KSrelief has delivered thousands of food packages to some of the world’s most vulnerable people, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Tuesday.

In Pakistan, 4,790 packages were distributed to families in need across Balochistan, Kashmir, and Punjab as a part of the Etaam Ramadan project, benefiting 32,631 individuals.

In Somalia, KSrelief distributed 1,550 packages to vulnerable families in Baidoa, benefiting 6,930 people.

Now in its fourth phase, the Etaam project aims to distribute more than 390,000 food parcels in 27 countries during Ramadan, benefiting 2.3 million people at a cost of more than SR67 million ($17.8 million).

Additionally, KSrelief provided 600 packages in Port Sudan, benefiting 3,057 impoverished and displaced people.

In Lebanon, the Saudi Arabia aid agency distributed 800 packages to needy families in Sidon, benefiting 4,000 individuals.

Source:arabnews.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2594783/saudi-arabia

--------

Saudi Arabia gears up for Saudi Green Initiative Day on March 27

March 25, 2025

Riyadh: As Saudi Arabia prepares to mark Saudi Green Initiative Day on March 27, the Kingdom reaffirmed its commitment to environmental sustainability and climate action.

The national event highlights Saudi Arabia’s efforts to combat climate change while fostering a culture of environmental responsibility, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

In the lead-up to the occasion, the Saudi Green Initiative launched several interactive campaigns during Ramadan to encourage public participation in sustainable practices.

Social media users can still contribute by sharing their photos on the Saudi Green Initiative Day Photo Board, a show of the community’s dedication to eco-friendly initiatives.

The initiative’s mascot, Nomoor, continues to engage youth and children through the “30 Positive Steps to Protect the Environment” challenge, promoting sustainable habits across all age groups.

Three winners of the challenge will be announced on Saudi Green Initiative Day in recognition of their contributions.

With the submission deadline approaching, participants are encouraged to highlight their sustainable Ramadan practices and join the challenge.

Aligned with Saudi Vision 2030, Saudi Green Initiative Day underscores the Kingdom’s ambitious sustainability goals, calling for collective action in climate efforts and environmental awareness.

Source:arabnews.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2594776/saudi-arabia

---------

Saudi Arabia tightens security on Mecca, Medina roads

March 26, 2025

Cairo: As the number of pilgrims heading to Mecca and Medina are spiralling, Saudi security authorities have ramped up efforts to streamline traffic on roads leading to both holy cities.

Mecca and Medina, home to Islam's two holiest mosques, usually witness huge numbers of visitors from inside and outside Saudi Arabia during the last days of the Islamic sacred month of Ramadan, expected to end on Saturday.

Road security forces have intensified their efforts to regulate entry and exit of traffic, direct vehicles carrying pilgrims to alternative routes when necessary, and give the faithful a smooth access to their destinations in Mecca and Medina.

The closing days of Ramadan are expected to witness a further increase in the numbers of vehicles and passengers heading to both cities.

In undertaking the stint, the Special Road Security Forces have beefed up their field presence by intensifying patrols and checkpoints on the main roads leading to Mecca, known as the "Holy Capital" — home to the Grand Mosque.

Likewise, the forces are working to secure the roads leading to the Prophet's Mosque in Medina through checkpoints to ensure the smooth inflow of pilgrims.

To this end, the forces utilize smart systems to monitor roads via screens connected to cameras installed along highways, enabling swift responses to accidents and traffic violations.

The month of Ramadan usually marks the peak season of the Umrah or lesser pilgrimage in the Grand Mosque.

Source:gulfnews.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://gulfnews.com/world/gulf/saudi/saudi-arabia-tightens-security-on-mecca-medina-roads-1.500072370

--------

 

Europe

 

The long, slow road to a ceasefire, with no guarantee of success

March 26, 2025

After three days of talks in Saudi Arabia, at last some progress.

Two separate texts outlining agreements between the US and Russia, and the US and Ukraine.

There were some differences but much was the same. All sides agreed "to ensure safe navigation, eliminate the use of force, and prevent the use of commercial vessels for military purposes in the Black Sea".

They also agreed "to develop measures for implementing... the agreement to ban strikes against energy facilities of Russia and Ukraine".

President Zelensky regretted there was no explicit ban on attacks on civilian infrastructure but sounded broadly content.

He told reporters Ukraine would implement the Black Sea and energy ceasefires immediately.

He also got a nod to his agenda with the US saying that it would "remain committed to helping achieve the exchange of prisoners of war, the release of civilian detainees, and the return of forcibly transferred Ukrainian children".

But then came a third document, issued by the Kremlin, which muddied the waters.

It imposed conditions that did not appear in the original agreement between the US and Russia.

It said the Black Sea ceasefire would come into force only when sanctions were lifted on Russian banks, insurers, companies, ports and ships that would allow it to export more agriculture and fertiliser goods.

In other words, they saw this deal not just as a revival of the old Black Sea Grain Initiative they pulled out of in 2023, but also an opportunity to roll back a significant number of economic sanctions.

However, doing this may take some time and thus delay any maritime ceasefire.

It also may not entirely be in the gift of the US to make all the changes Russia requested.

For example, any return to the SWIFT financial messaging system would require EU approval.

The Kremlin also said the 30-day pause on energy strikes would be back-dated to start on 18 March and could be suspended if one side violated the deal.

In other words, what has been agreed is a fragile step towards some diminution of the fighting in Ukraine but with no guarantee of success amid an atmosphere of mutual distrust.

Even if today's agreement were to survive, it is still a long way from the comprehensive countrywide ceasefire the US originally wanted.

It is often said that ceasefires are processes, not events. And that is as true as ever for this agreement.

What matters is not the announcement of any ceasefire, but if and how it is implemented. In other words, the proof of the pudding will be in the eating.

Will both sides make this deal work and then live up to it? Because in the answer to those questions we will learn much about what both sides really want.

Do they want a ceasefire to turn into a longer-term peace? Or do they just want to trade while pressing home their advantage on the battlefield?

Source:bbc.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqjdnpjgj75o

-------

EU airline wants to resume flights to Ukraine

25 Mar, 2025

Hungarian low-cost carrier Wizz Air has announced plans to swiftly resume flights to Ukraine once a ceasefire with Russia is established.

Speaking at the Logistics as a Driver of Economic Growth conference on Tuesday, CEO Jozsef Varadi spoke of the airline’s plans for Ukraine, emphasizing the potential of the country’s market.

“We have a firm plan for the restart of Ukraine, because I think it can happen any moment,” Varadi stated. “Once a ceasefire is announced, then we would look at our restart,” he added.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) estimates that reopening Ukrainian airspace could take six to eight weeks after a ceasefire is declared. The chief executive said the airline is preparing to align its operations with this timeline to ensure a prompt return.

According to Varandi, the carrier plans to restart operating bases in Kiev and Lviv, aiming to supply an annualized capacity of about 5 million seats a year to the Ukrainian market across 60 routes.

In 2021, the low-cost airline was third in the Ukrainian market with a 10% share, according to the Independent. Ukraine closed its airspace to civilian flights on February 24, 2022 when the conflict with Russia escalated, citing the high risk to flight safety due to the active fighting.

The optimism about a potential ceasefire comes amid a broader diplomatic push by Russia and the US to end the Ukraine conflict. Since taking office in January, US President Donald Trump has begun talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky about reaching a peace agreement. This has been followed by several rounds of negotiations between Russian and American officials.

Source:rt.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.rt.com/business/614764-airline-return-ukraine-ceasefire/

--------

Wokingham: Calls for more space for Muslims during Ramadan

March 26, 2025

By Ruth Lucas

A councillor is calling for better provision for the borough's Muslim community during the holy month of Ramadan.

Councillor Nagi Nagella from Wokingham Borough Council says many Muslims are 'struggling' to find appropriate spaces for rituals during Ramadan, including breaking fast and prayers.

Taking place during the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, this year's Ramadan began on February 28 and will end on March 30.

Cllr Nagella, ward member for Norreys, asked council leaders on March 20: "During the holy month of Ramadan, many Muslim residents are struggling to find appropriate spaces for prayers, particularly for Taraweeh and daily congregational prayers.

"Given the limited availability to find spaces, can the Council explore provisions to support the community, such as making public buildings or community centres available for use during this period?"

In response, executive member for residents' services, inclusion and fighting poverty Rachel Bishop-Firth said the council had 'explored a number of options'.

Cllr Bishop-Firth said: "The challenge we found is that council private communal spaces are limited and most evenings are booked up all around the year."

One council-owned building is 'already hired regularly by a local Muslim prayer group' but 'demand for these spaces is much greater than supply'.

The executive member said a discussion on the matter will continue and the council will 'see if we can find a solution for 2026'.

Source:bracknellnews.co.uk

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.bracknellnews.co.uk/news/25036479.wokingham-calls-space-muslims-ramandan/

-------

Weston Secondary School to excuse students for Eid al-Fitr

March 26, 2025

By Reece Barrett

Muslim pupils at a Southampton secondary school will be allowed a day off from school next week to celebrate the end of Ramadan.

Weston Secondary School has issued a letter to parents following guidance from Imams at Medina Mosque, and students at the school will be excused on March 31, allowing them to partake in Eid al-Fitr festivities.

In a letter sent to parents on March 21, which has also been published on the school's website, a spokesperson for Weston Secondary School said: "At Weston Secondary School, we recognise that many of our families will be celebrating Eid-al-Fitr from Sunday 30th March and Monday 31st of March.

"The school has spoken with Imams from Medina Mosque who have advised that the day off should be on Monday 31st of March only.

"All students participating in this religious celebration will be expected back in school from Tuesday 1st April."

Eid al-Fitr is a holiday celebrated worldwide, marking the end of the month-long dawn-to-dusk fasting of Ramadan.

Parents are asked to complete a form or contact the school attendance team to confirm their child's absence.

For students attending school on Monday, a special prayer space will be provided during lunchtime, although they will need to bring their own prayer mats.

The school has laid down rules to respect the use of this space, including removing shoes before entering, no food or drink, and ensuring the area is left clean and tidy.

Source:dailyecho.co.uk

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/25037392.weston-secondary-school-excuse-students-eid-al-fitr/

--------

Reeves to make new welfare cuts in Spring Statement

March 26, 2025

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is set to make further cuts to welfare benefits and government departments in her Spring Statement on Wednesday.

The government announced big welfare spending reductions last week but the chancellor is set to expand the cuts after being told reforms to the system would save less than planned.

The chancellor faces pressure over the performance of the economy, with growth remaining sluggish despite being the government's top priority in order to improve living standards.

But Reeves will argue the UK has to "move quickly in a changing world" and will confirm a £2.2bn increase in defence spending.

In her Spring Statement at 12:30, where the chancellor will set out her latest plans for the UK economy, she will cite uncertainty surrounding the Ukraine war and US tariffs threatening to upend global trade.

Reeves, who ruled out tax rises in the statement, has already announced several spending cuts but will say she is "proud" of what Labour has delivered in its nine months in power.

She will attempt to put national security at the heart of her plan to "kickstart economic growth", saying the increase in defence spending is "not just about increasing our national security but increasing our economic security, too".

"The job of a responsible government is not simply to watch this change," she will say.

"This moment demands an active government stepping up to secure Britain's future... We need to go further and faster to kickstart growth, protect national security and make people better off through our plan for change."

The government announced earlier this month that it would cut the foreign aid budget to increase military spending to 2.5% of national income by 2027.

"As defence spending rises, I want the whole country to feel the benefits," the chancellor will say.

But some economists have argued the increase in defence spending will have a limited impact on economic growth.

Late on Tuesday, it emerged that Reeves would widen her cuts to welfare after the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), which monitors the government's spending plans, estimated the welfare system reforms would not save the £5bn as planned.

The reforms include stricter tests for personal independence (Pip) payments, affecting hundreds of thousands of claimants.

But it is understood the OBR assessed that many claimants facing losing health-related benefit payments would instead claim for more severe conditions.

The government did not deny reports, first carried by The Times, that the chancellor would make further cuts to try to make up some of the shortfall.

Low growth and high borrowing costs

A combination of low economic growth and higher interest rates on government borrowing in recent months has also dealt a blow to Reeves, who has made a series of spending cuts and other adjustments to ensure she sticks to her self-imposed and "non-negotiable" rules on borrowing and debt.

These rules are not to borrow to fund day-to-day public spending, and to get government debt falling as a share of national income by the end of this parliament.

Sticking by her decision not to increase taxes further, the chancellor will unveil more details of the £5bn worth of cuts to welfare - the biggest single reduction in a decade - and the squeeze on other government spending.

Reeves has confirmed plans to tell Civil Service departments to cut administrative budgets by 15%, and announced £2bn of funding for affordable homes in England.

After she has given her Spring Statement, the latest official economic forecast from the OBR will be published.

It is widely expected the watchdog will lower its growth expectations for the UK. In its forecast at the Budget, it predicted the economy would grow 2% in 2025 and 1.8% in 2026. The Bank of England has cut its growth forecast to 1%.

Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics estimate the economy grew by just 0.1% between October and December 2024, while the latest monthly figures show it shrank by 0.1% in January.

When an economy is growing slowly - or contracting - businesses might not take on more workers or give pay rises. Lower profits mean firms pay less in tax, which funds government spending.

Businesses are set to see costs rise in April when minimum wage rates increase and National Insurance contributions paid by employers go up. This could be passed on to consumers through higher prices.

On Wednesday, the OBR will state whether it thinks the government will stick to its self-imposed rules on borrowing and spending.

It is expected to confirm that low growth and higher government borrowing costs are making it much harder for Reeves to meet her rules.

Fiscal rules are self-imposed by most governments in wealthy nations and are designed to maintain credibility with financial markets.

Ahead of her statement, Reeves has sought to blame the worsening state of the public finances on a global rise in borrowing costs.

Economists have suggested high borrowing costs and low growth have wiped out the £9.9bn buffer Reeves had against her rules at the autumn Budget last year.

Economic uncertainty, partly related to the war in Ukraine and US President Donald Trump's trade tariffs, have been blamed for the cost of government borrowing rising across the world.

However, critics have said the UK's higher borrowing costs are in part down to Labour's economic policies and the country's economic outlook.

Long-term government borrowing costs over a period of 10 years continued to rise on Tuesday to hit just below 4.8%.

In her Spring Statement, the chancellor will argue the world has changed, and use the increase in defence spending as an example of a fresh economic approach.

The £2.2bn of funding will be invested in advanced technologies, including new energy weapons on Royal Navy ships.

It will also be used to provide better homes for military families by refurbishing the defence estate.

The investment will also help fund upgrades to infrastructure at Naval Base Portsmouth, enhancing its ability to support Royal Navy operations into the future.

Source:bbc.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn4y9v8xwvmo

---------

Government concerns over assisted dying timeline

March 26, 2025

The government has expressed concerns about the timeline for implementing assisted dying, the BBC understands, before measures were tabled to delay when it could be available.

Kim Leadbeater, the Labour MP bringing the bill, said she was "disappointed" to be proposing deferring when it must be in force by until 2029.

Some MPs expressed concern this was the same year as the next general election was due.

Officials and civil servants have been advising Leadbeater on drafting amendments, including suggesting changes the government wants.

A spokesman for Leadbeater said: "Kim hopes and believes the service can be delivered more quickly if it becomes law later this year."

Part of the reason for postponing the deadline is to allow time to set up training and systems for what would be an entirely new service. Changes made to the bill since MPs voted in favour, including a new commission and panel system to oversee application, have added to that.

Leadbeater's new amendment changes the maximum implementation period from two years to four years. However if all the systems are ready before four years, assisted dying will go ahead earlier than the deadline.

It is understood there is disagreement among ministers about the delay to implementation, with some believing it is a mistake.

The government is officially neutral on the bill with many ministers supporting it.

"I cannot pretend that I'm not disappointed about extending the commencement period," Leadbeater told MPs on the committee tasked with scrutinising it.

But she said the change created a "four-year backstop", adding: "It doesn't say it cannot be implemented before then."

Both MPs supportive of assisted dying and those opposed have expressed dismay.

Tom Gordon, a Liberal Democrat MP in favour of the bill who sits on the committee, said other countries had implemented similar laws in much less time.

"The current law is failing terminally ill people, forcing them to suffer unbearably, travel abroad to die or risk their families facing police investigations. This amendment would prolong that suffering unnecessarily," he said.

"Delaying implementation risks pushing it beyond the next election, where it could be abandoned altogether."

Jess Asato, a Labour MP who is against the bill, said: "Putting an arbitrary timeline on such a complex issue was never a sensible way to make life or death legislation. This last-minute switch demonstrates again just how chaotic this whole process has been with substantial last-minute changes to core sections of the bill."

Source:bbc.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2er99xmjjwo

---------

Heathrow substation fire not suspicious, police say

March 26, 2025

There is no evidence to suggest the substation fire that shut down Heathrow airport was suspicious, police say.

The fire, which broke out in Hayes on Friday, resulted in the closure of Britain's busiest airport for a day.

Counter-terrorism officers were briefly drafted in to investigate. However, the Metropolitan Police said on Tuesday that the incident was no longer being treated as a "potentially criminal matter".

Officers continue to support the London Fire Brigade, the National Grid and "other partners" to investigate the cause of the blaze.

Police say they will consider "any relevant new information or evidence" should any come to light.

While investigations into the cause of the blaze are ongoing, it has been reported the fire started in a transformer within the substation in Hayes around midnight.

The blaze caused a temporary power outage at the airport that led to thousands of cancelled flights on Friday and stranded passengers across the world.

Nearly 1,400 flights were disrupted by the airport's closure, according to air traffic website flightradar24.com. Around 120 flights were diverted elsewhere.

The incident also disrupted the supply of millions of pounds of goods that go through the airport.

More than 63,000 homes lost power in the outage caused by the fire, according to energy supplier Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks.

Operations at the airport were halted for 18 hours on Friday, with bosses saying it was "open and fully operational" by Saturday morning.

However, the chaos has raised concerns about the resilience of the major transport hub - and brought into question the UK's energy resilience more broadly.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has called for lessons to be learned from the incident.

Substations, operated by the National Grid, are designed to produce, convert, and distribute electricity at suitable voltage levels.

Heathrow uses three electricity substations.

The airport also has emergency back-up power supplies of its own, which use diesel generators and batteries. These supplies only keep crucial safety systems running, such as landing equipment and runway lights.

Heathrow's chief executive has said the shutdown was caused not by a lack of power, but by the time it took to switch from the damaged substation to the energy provided by the two other operational substations.

Airport bosses have been criticised for their decision to shut Heathrow down following the claim that it had enough power despite the substation fire.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer told the BBC he was "deeply concerned" by the closure of the airport, adding "there are questions" for managers to answer.

The airport has said "lessons can and will be learned".

Source:bbc.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62xyww94zro

-------

Sussex university fined £585k in free speech row

March 26, 2025

The University of Sussex has been fined £585,000 by the higher education regulator, the Office for Students (OfS), for failing to uphold freedom of speech.

It follows the case of Prof Kathleen Stock, who left the university in 2021 after being accused of transphobia for her views on sex and gender issues.

The OfS criticised the university's policy statement on Trans and Non-Binary equality, saying its requirement to "positively represent trans people" and an assertion that "transphobic propaganda [would] not be tolerated" could lead staff and students to "self-censor".

The University of Sussex plans to challenge the OfS findings legally, Vice-Chancellor Prof Sasha Roseneil said.

Describing the judgement as an "unreasonably absolutist definition of free speech", the university warned that the ruling left institutions facing "opposing and irreconcilable duties" which rendered them "powerless to prevent abusive, bullying and harassing speech".

The OfS, it added, had pursued a "vindictive and unreasonable campaign" against it.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said free speech and academic freedom were "non-negotiables" in universities.

"I have been clear that where those principles are not upheld, robust action will be taken," she said.

"If you go to university you must be prepared to have your views challenged, hear contrary opinions and be exposed to uncomfortable truths.

"We are giving the OfS stronger powers on freedom of speech so students and academics are not muzzled by the chilling effect demonstrated in this case."

The OfS was given the power in January to issue fines where freedom of speech was not upheld at a university.

Arif Ahmed, the OfS director for freedom of speech and academic freedom, said the decision to fine the university had followed a thorough investigation.

It found, he said, that the policy had meant staff feared disciplinary action and Prof Stock had changed the way she taught her course as a result.

Mr Ahmed added that the OfS was "concerned that a chilling effect may have caused many more students and academics at the university to self-censor".

The regulator said the Trans and Non-Binary Equality Policy Statement issued by the University of Sussex was looked at in the context of existing legal duties on freedom of speech as well as the European Convention on Human Rights.

In its report, the OfS found four elements of the policy to be "concerning".

These included a requirement for course materials to "positively represent trans people and trans lives" and an assertion that "transphobic propaganda… [would] not be tolerated".

Another part of the policy highlighted by the regulator said "transphobic abuse" would be a serious disciplinary offence for staff and students.

It also looked at the management and governance of the university around freedom of speech.

Prof Stock faced protests on the university campus after she published a book questioning whether gender identity was more "socially significant" than biological sex.

Posters were put up on the campus calling for her to be sacked, and students turned up with placards at an open day.

Prof Stock rejected accusations that she was transphobic and described the experience to the BBC as a "surreal anxiety dream".

She resigned from her university post in 2021 and was awarded an OBE for services to education.

The fine is the largest issued to a university and is likely to be seen as an intention to hold the line over the expression of legal views.

In a strongly worded statement, the University of Sussex said the regulator had been determined to make an example of its case and "entrench an extreme libertarian free speech position".

It added there had been no "substantive engagement" other than via written correspondence, and it accused the regulator of pursuing a "vindictive and unreasonable campaign".

The policy at the heart of the investigation had been adapted from a template, according to the university, and had since been changed.

Source:bbc.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn9vr4vjzgqo

--------

Sarah Everard's family calls for harsher sentences

March 26, 2025

Sarah Everard's parents are campaigning for tougher sentencing for serious violent and sexual criminals as part of a new campaign group being launched in Parliament.

Ms Everard, 33, was abducted, raped and murdered by Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens as she walked home in London in 2021 - he was later sentenced to a whole life order.

Jeremy and Susan Everard said it was "important that sentences truly reflect the seriousness of the crime".

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said it has launched a review into sentencing to help ensure sentences are punishing offenders and protecting the public.

Mr and Mrs Everard said "although nothing can alleviate the sense of loss, it is a relief to us that our daughter's murderer received a whole life order".

They added: "It made us feel that the enormity of his crime was recognised and that our daughter's life was valued.

"We know of other families in similar circumstances who have not had this small comfort."

Another member of Justice for Victims is Paula Hudgell, the adoptive mother of double amputee Tony Hudgell, who lost his legs from injuries caused by his birth parents.

Tony was just 41 days old when he was assaulted in Whitstable, Kent, an attack which caused multiple fractures and dislocations, and blunt trauma to the face, leading to organ failure, toxic shock and sepsis.

He was left untreated and in agony for 10 days and because of the extent of his injuries both his legs had to be amputated.

Jody Simpson and her partner Anthony Smith were jailed for 10 years in 2018.

Ms Hudgell said: "When criminals abuse children they are creating a devastating impact for the rest of that child's life.

"Many decades can be spent wrestling with the aftermath. Yet perpetrators can be out of prison living a free life whilst the suffering for the victim goes on for decades.

"We need a justice system that reflects that properly. I have seen so many cases of child abusers that don't get a punishment that fits the crime. Let alone child murderers - they shouldn't get out of prison in my view."

The group includes the parents of four-year-old Violet-Grace Youens, who was killed by a motorist driving at more than 80mph in a 30mph zone in 2017, in St Helens, Merseyside.

And Ayse Hussein, whose cousin Mihrican Mustafa - known as Jan - was murdered by a convicted paedophile in 2018, has also joined.

Ms Mustafa's body was found in a freezer in the killer's flat in Canning Town, east London, a year after she went missing.

'Families get life sentences'

Katie Brett, whose 16-year-old sister Sasha Marsden, from Blackpool, was stabbed to death in 2013, said: "You hear about people getting a life sentence.

"The people who really get the life sentence are families like mine. In the end most murderers end up getting out of prison - sometimes as after as little 15 or 20 years.

"My sister had decades of life ahead of her."

She added: "Surely if you take a life the starting point should be spending the rest of your life in prison? That's what we wanted as a family and what would have been respectful of my sister's memory.

"I think that's what most families would want and I think most people would support that."

An MoJ spokesperson said "delivering for victims must always be a priority" for the criminal justice system.

They added that the Lord Chancellor has also asked the Law Commission to consider whether homicide law and sentencing guidelines are working effectively.

The group was formed amid ongoing public concern about serious criminals escaping proper punishment, Justice for Victims said.

They will meet with cross party MPs and the leader of the opposition Kemi Badenoch on Wednesday.

Source:bbc.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx20qgv5v59o

--------

Apology over delay to maternity report publication

March 26, 2025

The healthcare watchdog has apologised over delays to the publication of its report into maternity services in Nottingham, which is subject of the largest inquiry of its kind in the NHS.

Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspections - in June and July - found seven breaches of regulation in safe care and treatment at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust's two main hospitals.

Overall, maternity services have been rated as requires improvement for being safe and well-led.

Following criticism from Donna Ockenden, who is leading the review into maternity deaths and injuries at the trust, the CQC has admitted the report was not published "as soon after the inspection as it should have done".

The CQC ask five key questions - are services safe, effective, caring, responsive to people's needs, and are they well-led?

Following an inspection carried out on 18 June, 19 June and 3 July, the CQC's rating for maternity services at both hospitals - the Queen's Medical Centre (QMC) and City Hospital - being effective improved from requires improvement to good.

Caring was re-rated as good, while a responsive rating was not included in the inspection and remains good.

Following publication of its report, the CQC apologised for the delays, which senior midwife Ms Ockenden labelled "unacceptable" last month.

"Due to a large-scale transformation programme at CQC, this report [was] not published as soon after the inspection as it should have done," a CQC spokesperson said.

"The programme involved changes to the technology CQC uses but resulted in problems with the systems and processes rather than the intended benefits. The amount of time taken to publish this report falls far short of what people using services and the trust should be able to expect and the CQC apologises for this."

The CQC said last year's inspection of the trust was prompted by concern from staff.

The watchdog said the regulation breaches at the City Hospital related to infection control procedures, equipment safety, medicines and expressed milk storage.

Breaches at the QMC concerned infection control procedures, equipment safety, and medicines management and storage.

Inspectors noted learning opportunities were not always shared consistently with staff to promote good practice, and that low numbers of sufficiently qualified staff meant suitable resources were not always possible.

Other issues were that people were not always confident about raising concerns, medicine storage was put at risk by inconsistent temperature regulation, and checks on emergency equipment were not always completed.

An action plan focusing on these concerns has already been submitted by the trust, inspectors said.

However, the CQC also found most people felt the environment was safe and could mostly access care when they needed it.

Helen Rawlings, interim director of network operations in the Midlands at the CQC, said: "It's clear that staff and leaders had worked hard to make some improvements, and since the inspection last year, leaders have assured us that further improvements have been made.

"We'll continue to monitor the trust to ensure that more changes are made and embedded so women, people using the service and their babies receive the safe care they have a right to expect."

Anthony May, chief executive at the trust, added: "I recognise that these inspections took place after colleagues in maternity services contacted the CQC directly. I want to thank them for their courage in speaking up.

"Importantly, the CQC found that women and families are treated with kindness and compassion, and that our environments are predominantly safe and deliver good outcomes.

"All breaches of regulation raised during the inspection have been addressed and we have provided the CQC with an action plan to assure them of compliance.

"We know that more must be done to improve the quality of care that women and families receive, but our communities can be assured that we are moving in the right direction."

By the end of May this year, it is expected the maternity review of the trust will be examining 2,500 cases in which mothers or babies have died or been injured - the bulk of them between 2012 and the present day.

The increased caseload now means the inquiry is working to a new timeline. Instead of the final report being published in September 2025, it is now due to be delivered in June 2026.

Last month, the trust was handed the largest ever fine for failings in maternity care, connected to the deaths of three babies - all within 14 weeks of each other - in 2021.

Analysis

By Rob Sissons, BBC East Midlands health correspondent

There is a question as to how valuable this latest snapshot into Nottingham's pressured maternity units really is.

It is a snapshot but a somewhat historic one.

The CQC has apologised for the delay, blaming new computer systems.

It nevertheless offers an evidenced snapshot from outside the hospital trust. The latest report acknowledges some progress but demonstrates a service still short of where it needs to be.

It underlines what Donna Ockenden has always stressed - that turning around the troubled service was "always going to be a marathon - not a sprint". That will not come as a surprise to campaigning harmed families, who continue to push for more accountability.

Source:bbc.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c778pz32xyjo

---------

New Islamic community centre approved by council

25 Mar, 2025

A new Islamic community centre in Sheffield has been approved by the city council.

The Wybourn Islamic Community Centre on Maltravers Road, close to the Park Hill flats, has been given planning permission after significant community support.

A consultation saw 73 letters submitted, with 71 in favour of the plan.

The UK Islamic Mission, the applicant, said it would use the facility as a place of worship and learning.

It said: "The facility will also be supporting communities' cultural, social, welfare and recreational needs.

"The place of worship will have a designated area called 'Masala', this is the area where congregational and individual prayers are said.

"The facilities will have paid Imams who lead the congregational prayers and offer pastoral support to worshippers."

Part of the proposal was that the centre would contribute positively to the neighbourhood, reducing crime and anti-social behaviour through increased community activity, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Source:bbc.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8j0djej4nno

---------

 

North America

 

Trump and intelligence chiefs play down Signal group chat leak

March 26, 2025

US President Donald Trump and his intelligence chiefs have played down a security breach that saw a journalist invited into a Signal group chat where he reported seeing national security officials plan airstrikes in Yemen.

US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe denied at a Senate hearing that any classified information was shared in the message chain. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth also faced scrutiny for the messages, though he did not testify.

Democrats on the panel rebuked the cabinet members as "incompetent" with national security.

Over at the White House, Trump stood by National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, who was at the centre of the leak.

Waltz came close to apologising by Tuesday evening, telling Fox News: "I take full responsibility. I built the group."

"It's embarrassing. We're going to get to the bottom of it."

Asked if he had identified who on his staff was at fault, he responded, "a staffer wasn't responsible," and repeated that the error was his "full responsibility".

Waltz also said that he had spoken to Elon Musk, who is leading the unofficial Department of Government Efficiency and has touted himself as "tech support" for the federal government.

"We've got the best technical minds looking at how this happened," Waltz continued, adding that Goldberg "wasn't on my phone".

The revelation has sent shockwaves through Washington, prompting a lawsuit and questions about why high-ranking officials discussed such sensitive matters on a potentially vulnerable civilian app.

Atlantic magazine editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg was added to the 18-member group, apparently by accident, and reported that he initially thought it was a hoax.

But he said he realised the messages were authentic once the planned raid was carried out in Yemen.

Some 53 people were killed in the 15 March airstrikes, which US officials said targeted Iran-aligned Houthi rebels who have threatened maritime trade and Israel.

The American raids have continued since then, including early on Tuesday morning.

In addition to Ratcliffe and Gabbard, the Signal group chat included Vice-President JD Vance and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles.

Senators ask for answers

The controversy overshadowed Tuesday's hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee, which was originally meant to focus on drug cartels and people trafficking.

During the at-times combative session, Ratcliffe said he was not aware of any specific operational information on weapons, targets or timings discussed in the chat, as Goldberg had reported.

Asked if he believed the leak was a huge mistake, Ratcliffe said: "No."

Gabbard repeatedly said "no classified information" was divulged and maintained there was a difference between "inadvertent release" and "malicious leaks" of information.

Both pointed to Hegseth as being the authority on whether the information was classified. Goldberg reported that much of the most sensitive information shared in the chat came from the account under Hegseth's name.

"The Secretary of Defense is the original classification authority for DoD in deciding what would be classified information," Ratcliffe said.

Senate Democrats assailed the Gabbard and Ratcliffe.

Colorado's Michael Bennet accused those involved in the chat of sloppiness, incompetence and disrespect for US intelligence agencies.

Georgia's Jon Ossoff described the episode - which Washington has dubbed Signalgate - as an "embarrassment".

"This is utterly unprofessional. There's been no apology," Ossoff said. "There has been no recognition of the gravity of this error."

Republicans on the panel were far more muted in their misgivings.

"We dodged a bullet," said Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

Mississippi Republican Roger Wicker, who leads the the Senate's armed services committee, later told reporters that lawmakers will investigate the Signal chat leak.

Wicker told reporters that he wants the investigation to be bipartisan and for the committee to have full access to the group chat's transcript.

"We need to find out if it's completely factual, and then make recommendations," he told the NewsNation network. "But I expect we'll have the co-operation of the administration."

Republican Jim Risch of Idaho, who leads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, also said that he expects the matter to be investigated.

"This is a matter that's going to be investigated, obviously, we're going to know a lot more about it as the facts role out," he said, quoted by The Hill newspaper.

Trump defends his team amid backlash

Trump and his White House team cast the controversy as a "co-ordinated effort" to distract from the president's accomplishments.

Throughout the day, Trump played down the leak and defended his national security adviser who was reported to have admitted Goldberg to the group chat.

"Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he's a good man," Trump told NBC in a morning phone interview. He also said Goldberg's addition to the group was a "glitch" that had "no impact at all" operationally.

The Republican president indicated it was one of Waltz's aides who had invited the journalist to the chat.

"A staffer had his number on there," said Trump, who has long pilloried reporting by Goldberg going back to the 2020 election.

At an event later at the White House, Trump was joined by Waltz.

"There was no classified information, as I understand it," said the president. "They used an app, if you want to call it an app, that a lot of people use, a lot of people in government use, a lot of people in the media use."

In his own brief remarks, Waltz took aim at Goldberg. He said he had never had any contact with the reporter and accused him of wanting to focus on "more hoaxes", rather than Trump administration successes.

Trump later spoke to Newsmax, where he told the conservative network that "somebody that was on the line with permission, somebody that was with Mike Waltz, worked with Mike Waltz at a lower level, had, I guess Goldberg's" phone number.

Some national security experts have argued that the leak was a major operational lapse, and archive experts warned that it violated laws on presidential record keeping.

On Tuesday, the non-partisan watchdog group American Oversight sued the individual officials who participated in the chat for alleged violations of the Federal Records Act and Administrative Procedure Act.

The group said that by setting the chat to automatically delete messages, the group violated a law requiring White House officials to submit their records to the National Archives.

The National Security Agency warned employees only last month of vulnerabilities in Signal, according to documents obtained by the BBC's US partner CBS.

Signal issued a new statement on Tuesday disputing "vulnerabilities" in its messaging platform.

"Signal is open source, so our code is regularly scrutinized in addition to regular formal audits," the statement said, calling the app "the gold standard for private, secure communications".

Mick Mulroy, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence (DASD) for the Middle East and a retired CIA paramilitary officer, told the BBC that holding sensitive discussions on a "unsure commercial application" was "unacceptable".

"And everyone on that chat knew it," he added. "You do not need to be a member of the military or intelligence community to know that this information is exactly what the enemy would want to know."

Source:bbc.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp8vgr0p8n6o

--------

US drops bounties on key Taliban leaders

March 26, 2025

The US has removed millions of dollars in bounties from senior members of the Haqqani militant network in Afghanistan, including one on its leader Sirajuddin Haqqani who is also the Taliban government's interior minister.

It is a significant move given that the Haqqani network is accused of carrying out some of the most high-profile and deadly attacks in Afghanistan during the US-led war in the country, including attacks on the American and Indian embassies, and NATO forces.

Currently, the network is a key part of the Taliban government, which has controlled Afghanistan since foreign troops withdrew from the country in 2021, following a deal struck between the US and the Taliban during President Trump's first term.

The move to lift the bounties comes weeks into President Trump's second term, and just days after US officials met with the Taliban government in Kabul to secure the release of an American tourist, detained since 2022.

A US state department spokesperson confirmed to the BBC that "there is no current reward" for Sirajuddin Haqqani, his brother Abdul Aziz Haqqani and brother-in-law Yahya Haqqani, but they remain 'Specially Designated Global Terrorists and the Haqqani Network remains designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization".

An FBI webpage, which on Monday showed a $10 million dollar bounty on Sirajuddin Haqqani, has now been updated to remove the reward offer.

Taliban interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani told the BBC that the lifting of bounties "was a result of continued diplomatic efforts" by his government. "It is a good step and this shows our new interaction with the world and particularly with the United States. They (the US delegation) told us they want to increase positive interaction and confidence building between us," he added.

On Saturday, a US delegation including hostage envoy Adam Boehler and former envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad met with the Taliban government's foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and other Taliban officials in Kabul. Afterwards, US national George Glezmann, detained in December 2022 while visiting Afghanistan as a tourist, was released by the Taliban government.

It is unclear if lifting the bounties was a part of the negotiations.

Founded by Sirajuddin Haqqani's father, Jalaluddin Haqqani in the 1980s, the Haqqani network started out as a CIA-backed anti-Soviet outfit operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan. But it grew into one of the most feared anti-Western militant organisations in the region.

The group allied with the Taliban when they first took power in Afghanistan in 1996. Jalaluddin Haqqani died of a prolonged illness in 2018.

Currently, Sirajuddin Haqqani is emerging as a power centre in Afghanistan's Taliban government, as rifts between him and the Taliban's supreme leader Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada grow.

Members of the Taliban government have told the BBC that the issue of women's education is a key point of disagreement between the two sides.

The Haqqanis have sought to project themselves as more moderate, galvanising support among people in the country who are frustrated by the supreme leader's intransigence on women's education.

The dropping of bounties by the US government is evidence that its stature is also growing externally, among parts of the international community keen to engage with the Taliban.

Source:bbc.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1enxv4vz7do

---------

Bronx mosques face crime during Ramadan

Mar 26, 2025,

What should be the holiest time of year for the Muslim community is now marked by alleged crimes at two separate mosques during Ramadan.

Police report that a burglar broke in and tried to steal from Masjid Gulzar-E-Madinah on Muliner Avenue on Monday at 5 p.m.

Churchgoer Heroon Awan was inside the mosque praying when he saw the suspect enter the building and rush upstairs where the masjid keeps food and other supplies.

Awan followed the robber, who police confirmed tried to escape from a second-story window. However, police eventually caught and arrested 28-year-old Kia Maruf, charging him with burglary.

Across town, police were called to Bangla Bazar Jame Masjid on Odell Street, initially for a reported kidnapping. Three men got into some sort of dispute with another man who community members say was the local imam or church leader.

Community leaders told News 12 that Muslim community members have been on high alert after recent ICE raids in New York City, but will continue to observe the final days of Ramadan as planned.

According to the NYPD, anti-Muslim hate crimes have decreased with three so far this year and five by this time in 2024.

Source:brooklyn.news12.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://brooklyn.news12.com/bronx-mosques-face-crime-during-ramadan

---------

CAIR Releases Webinar ‘Unconstitutional Crackdowns: Protecting Your Green Cards, Visas, and Free Speech Rights’ Attended by Over 2,000

March 25, 2025

The Council on American-Islamic Relations today released a webinar sharing its latest guidance about how vulnerable members of the public can address the Trump administration’s ongoing and escalating attacks on due process, immigrant rights and free speech on Palestine.

During the event, titled, “Unconstitutional Crackdowns: Protecting Your Green Cards, Visas, and Free Speech Rights,” CAIR attorneys and policy experts shared new advice about how students, travelers and others threatened by the administration’s policies can take proactive steps to protect their legal rights.

CAIR has previously hosted educational trainings and webinars related to congressional attempts to pass the Nonprofit Killer Bill, President Trump’s initial wave of executive orders on immigration, Palestine advocacy and birthright citizenship, and the administration’s expected new Muslim Ban.

Source:cair.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.cair.com/press_releases/cair-releases-webinar-unconstitutional-crackdowns-protecting-your-green-cards-visas-and-free-speech-rights-attended-by-over-2000/

-------

CAIR Community Advisory: Join March on Washington for Palestine on April 5

March 25, 2025

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on community members to join the March on Washington for Palestine to be held on April 5th at 1 p.m. in Washington, D.C.

The march will oppose the Trump administration’s continuation of the Biden administration’s support for the genocidal Israeli government after it broke the ceasefire and resumed attacks on Gaza. Protesters will be calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and an arms embargo on Israel.

CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.      

La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.           

Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | TikTok | Website|YouTube

Do you like reading CAIR press releases and taking part in our action alerts? You can help contribute to CAIR’s work of defending civil rights and empowering American Muslims across the country by making a one-time contribution or becoming a monthly donor. Supporters like you make CAIR’s advocacy work possible and defeating Islamophobia an achievable goal. Click here to donate to CAIR.                  

You are receiving this email due to your interest selection from commercial media databases. If you would like to join CAIR’s media list, please sign up here:

Source:cair.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.cair.com/press_releases/cair-community-advisory-join-march-on-washington-for-palestine-on-april-5/

--------

UMN cultural group, Muslim student group serve Ramadan meals amidst space issues

by Ahmed Hassan and Hannah Reynolds

March 25, 2025

The University of Minnesota’s Al Madinah Cultural Center (AMCC) and Muslim Student Association (MSA) raised nearly $7,000 this semester to provide meals for students observing Ramadan.

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar and began on Feb. 28 this year. Muslims who observe Ramadan abstain from eating and drinking from sunrise to sunset for 30 days and increase praying and community worship.

MSA members, along with AMCC members, come together yearly to form the Ramadan Crew, a team primarily led by MSA. During Ramadan, MSA utilizes AMCC’s space to host daily Iftars and community gatherings.

Ramadan Crew provides free meals for 150 to 180 people every weekday night for the entire duration of Ramadan for daily Iftars, the fast-breaking meal eaten after sunset.

MSA External Vice President Aminah Alamin said the Ramadan Crew would not be able to adequately prepare without the Muslim community on and off campus. She said a lot of credit is due to food sponsors who provide money and meals for the community.

Sponsors include local restaurants Creative Catering, Afro Deli, Zait & Za’atar, Mim’s Cafe, Hummus House and Nashville Coop, according to Alamin. The Undergraduate Student Government (USG), the School of Nursing and the Arabic Language Department also provide funds for food and catering.

Each night costs around $2,000, totaling nearly $33,000 for 20 nights, according to AMCC Secretary Heba Kaissi.

Alamin said the restaurants involved are very generous, often delivering food for free.

“One thing that I love is that the Muslim community is always willing to help,” Alamin said. “It’s a big cost for restaurants as well and a lot of them deliver free of charge, and they throw in extra stuff as well.”

Ramadan preparation officially started back in December, with many people filling a variety of roles. From event coordination to managing finances, being ready is a group effort, Kaissi said. Outreach makes up an important part of the preparation process.

“The best part of it is looking forward to it happening, and it makes all the hard work getting put into it worth all the hardship that it might have caused us,” Kaissi said.

For the weekday Iftars, the Ramadan Crew provides dates and water with which people break their fasts, according to Kaissi. Following prayer, food is set up and people either eat in Coffman Union or take their food to go.

Many Muslims break their fasts with dates as a way to emulate the Muslim prophet Muhammad, who broke his fast by eating three dates.

Ramadan Crew was unable to use the shared common space outside of the AMCC room on the second floor of Coffman Union, which they had used for the past two years to serve meals during Ramadan. The notice came a week and a half before the start of Ramadan, according to email correspondence between AMCC, MSA and Student Union and Activities staff.

University Building Services Director Beth Galatis said in an email sent to an AMCC executive on Feb. 24 that the space could not be used as a result of fire code issues.

The space outside AMCC is designated as shared or public space and can not be reserved, according to the SUA Event Services Policy last updated in 2022.

In an email to the Minnesota Daily, University spokesperson Andria Waclawski noted that shared spaces like corridors and lobbies must be accessible and unobstructed to comply with building safety regulations and ensure emergency access according to Minnesota Administrative Rules.

When asked why the policy had not been previously enforced in the years prior, Waclawski said SUA responded adequately when they were made aware of this year’s Ramadan planning.

“While I can’t speak to past events, SUA staff responded appropriately once they were made aware of this year’s event plan and took proactive steps to meet the needs of AMCC while maintaining the University’s responsibilities related to policy and safety requirements,” Waclawski said in the email.

Director of SUA Jason Hancock said SUA supports all registered student organizations in finding spaces for their events.

“We want all our student groups to have successful events and work closely with them to share event guidelines and regular communication regarding space expectations, safety best practices and University policy,” Hancock said. “We will be following up with all registered student groups to make sure these expectations and other event planning resources are clearly communicated.”

AMCC and MSA coordinated with SUA Events Services Manager Ana Sontag and other student groups on the second floor and utilized their designated spaces and conference rooms for daily Iftars.

SUA staff reserved rooms on the third floor for days when AMCC and MSA could not use other student groups’ spaces on the second floor, according to booking confirmations received by AMCC executives.

Alamin said the Black Student Union, Asian American Student Union and USG have been helpful in the process.

“They open up the room for us, and they keep it open later than they usually would and those student groups let us use their rooms free of charge,” Alamin said. “With those being non-Muslim student groups and them being so willing to help, it’s just amazing to see how much other people support us.”

Despite the obstacles in finding space to host Iftars, Kaissi said helping support Ramadan observance for the University community has been rewarding.

Kaissi said turnout for Iftar has been strong, exceeding expectations with nearly 200 people attending each night and quickly going through the food provided by sponsors.

“It means we’re feeding more people, and it means that we’re helping more people in the community,” Kaissi said.

The Ramadan Crew also provided meals during spring break, though to a smaller group of roughly 50 people, according to Alamin.

Kaissi said Ramadan Crew is eager to work with the University and SUA to find a consistent space for Iftars for next year and in the years to come.

“This is a very big community event that happens at the University of Minnesota, students are relying on us, and we’re relying on the University to help us figure this out,” Kaissi said.

Alamin said Ramadan is the time of year when she feels her happiest and at peace with the Muslim community on campus. She added the community that comes from it makes all the preparation and planning worth it.

“I love serving other people food and just sitting down afterward after a long day of fasting, and talking to people, meeting new people on campus,” Alamin said. “I just feel like the community is so worth it, and it’s so worth all the effort that we put in.”

Kaissi said anyone is welcome to join whether they are Muslim or not.

“We love to invite all kinds of people from any community,” Kaissi said. “At the end of the day, AMCC is a community space, so we definitely love to have more people of different communities join us.”

This year, Ramadan is expected to end on the evening of March 29 or 30. Eid al-Fitr, the Islamic celebration that marks the end of Ramadan, is expected to take place on Sunday, March 30 or Monday, March 31.

Source:mndaily.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://mndaily.com/293135/top-story/umn-cultural-group-muslim-student-group-serve-ramadan-meals-amidst-space-issues/

--------

Disdain for Europe in US Signal chat horrifies EU

March 26, 2025

"Horrific to see in black and white. But hardly surprising," is how a top European diplomat reacted to what comes across as deep, heartfelt disdain for European allies, revealed late on Monday, European time, in an online group chat between top US security officials.

Seemingly by accident, Atlantic magazine editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg was also invited to the chat, which discussed planned strikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen aimed at unblocking trade routes on the Suez Canal. He subsequently made the frank exchange public.

In the chat, Vice-President JD Vance notes that only 3% of US trade runs through the canal, as opposed to 40% of European trade, after which he and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth complain of European "free-loading".

The monumental security breach is causing a ruckus at home, with Democrats calling for Hegseth's resignation as a result.

Across the pond - aka the Atlantic - Europe's leaders and policy-makers felt "sick to their stomach", as an EU official put it to me.

Officials quoted here are speaking on condition of anonymity in order to comment freely on what are volatile times in US-European relations. You won't see comments in the public domain, so as not to rock the transatlantic boat any further.

Vance first stunned European officials with his speech at last month's Security Conference in Munich condemning the continent for having misplaced values such as protecting abortion clinics and censoring speech in the media and online. "The enemy from within," he called it.

Monday's Signal chat strikes at the heart of a slew of tensions, discomfort and plain old fear in Europe right now, that the Trump administration can no longer be relied on as the continent's greatest ally. At a time when Europe is facing off against a resurgent Russia.

Western Europe has looked to the US to have its back in terms of security and defence since World War Two.

But it is precisely that fact that so riles the Trump administration and has cemented Europe in its mind as "freeloaders".

While the US commits 3.7% of its colossal GDP to defence, it's taken the majority of European partners in the transatlantic defence alliance Nato until recently to cough up even 2% of GDP. Some, like big economies Spain and Italy, aren't even there yet, though they say they plan to be soon.

Europe relies heavily on the US, amongst other things, for intelligence, for aerial defence capabilities and for its nuclear umbrella.

With the phasing out of conscription in most European countries, the continent also relies on the around 100,000 battle-ready US troops stationed in Europe to help act as a deterrent against potential aggressors.

Europeans have focused more on investing in welfare and social services than defence - collective or otherwise - since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. Why on earth should the US pick up the slack, asks the Trump administration.

On the leaked group chat, National Security Adviser Michael Waltz laments the state of Europe's naval forces. "It will have to be the United States that reopens these [Suez] shipping lanes."

The chat then debates how to ensure that Europe remunerates the US for its actions.

"If the US successfully restores freedom of navigation at great cost there needs to be some further economic gain extracted in return," states a message from someone called SM - presumed to be deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller.

Europe is now loudly and publicly discussing spending a lot more on its own defence - hoping to keep Donald Trump onside and an aggressive Russia at bay after Ukraine.

But Trump's irritation with Europe is nothing new.

He displayed his displeasure during his first term in office: furious about Europe's low defence spending; incandescent over the EU's trade surplus with the US.

The United States had been long been taken for a ride and that must stop, seemed to be his sentiment.

Imposing trade tariffs was one of Trump's first responses. Then as now.

Earlier this month, when Trump threatened eye-watering 200% tariffs on European alcohol in an ongoing trade tit-for-tat, he lambasted the EU as "abusive" and "hostile" for allegedly taking advantage of the US at any opportunity.

Coinciding uncomfortably with the leaked Signal chat and its Euro-bashing, the EU's trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic, along with the head of cabinet of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, arrived in Washington on Tuesday hoping to launch a charm offensive to try to stave off a new tariff onslaught.

On defence, Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened that the US wouldn't protect countries that "didn't pay".

His candidate to be the next US ambassador to Nato says that means Europeans spending 5% of GDP.

The UK currently spends 2.3% of GDP on defence, aiming for 2.6% by 2027. France scrapes 2.1% of GDP on military spending annually.

During the Cold War, the common enemy was the Soviet Union, which included swathes of Eastern Europe.

The US wanted to keep western Europe close, and for it to stay militarily dependent.

Since then, there has been growing apathy towards Nato and Europe. Particularly after the 9/11 twin tower attacks in the US.

Attention in Washington turned to Iraq and Afghanistan. To China.

President Obama was clear he wanted Asia to be his top foreign policy priority.

Trump is far from the first US president to harrumph at Europe's reluctance to do more for, as well as spend more on, its own defence.

But with Trump, there is also a deep ideological split.

On social values, as JD Vance alluded to in Munich.

But also - and this is key - Trump demonstrates not only an antipathy for Europe and an impatience to get the war in Ukraine "done and over", he also displays an affinity for Russia's Vladimir Putin, at a time when Europe considers him an immediate threat to the security and well-being of the whole continent.

Source:bbc.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c204vl27n2qo

--------

Trump signs order aimed at overhauling US elections

March 26, 2025

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that aims to overhaul US federal elections, including by requiring voters to show proof of citizenship and limiting when states can receive mail-in ballots.

Experts warn the move could disenfranchise millions of Americans who do not have easy access to a passport or other legal documents proving they have the right to vote.

It is unclear how enforceable the order is, given US states have wide legal leeway to determine how they run their elections. It is expected to be challenged in court.

The order, titled "Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections", was signed by Trump on Tuesday at the White House.

"Election fraud. You've heard the term. We're going to end it, hopefully. At least this will go a long way toward ending it," Trump said as he signed the order on Tuesday.

The order says that the US has failed "to enforce basic and necessary election protections" and calls on states to co-operate with the the White House or risk losing access to federal funding if they do not require proof of citizenship.

It is already illegal for non-citizens to vote in elections.

The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 prohibits non-citizens from voting in federal elections.

Every state is required to use a common registration form that requires people to confirm they are US citizens, under penalty of perjury for false claims, but does not require documentary proof.

Experts say there have been very few cases of immigrants voting illegally in US elections.

The order also seeks to bar states from accepting postal ballots received after election day. Currently, 18 states allow ballots to be received after election day as long as they were mailed on or before the day of the vote.

The order would withdraw federal funding for US states that do not comply.

Trump has been accused of spreading election misinformation, including by claiming that "millions" of illegal immigrants voted in his first election campaign. He also continues to deny that he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden.

Previous efforts to pass a voter ID law in Congress have failed.

Democrats who have criticised similar past reform attempts have pointed to statistics showing that a large number of Americans do not have an enhanced drivers licence or passport for ID.

The legal basis for the order is expected to be challenged in court.

"The president cannot override a statute passed by Congress that says what is required to register to vote on the federal voter registration form," Wendy Weiser, from the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, told the Washington Post.

UCLA law professor Rick Hasen said on his blog that elections are largely run by each individual state government, and that if allowed to stand, the order would radically shift power to the federal government.

Source:bbc.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdxq37nxl55o

--------

Columbia student protester sues Trump to stop deportation

March 26, 2025

A Columbia University student who moved to the US as a child is suing the Trump administration over attempts to deport her for participating in pro-Palestinian protests.

Yunseo Chung, 21, a legal permanent US resident who moved from South Korea when she was seven, alleges immigration officials have executed search warrants at multiple Columbia facilities, including her dormitory.

The lawsuit seeks to block her detention and deportation, citing First Amendment and other constitutional rights.

It follows the administration's recent detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a prominent pro-Palestinian activist, who helped negotiate between university officials and student protesters.

Ms Chung's lawyers have said she participated in campus protests against Israel's war in Gaza, but had not made statements to the press or taken on a high-profile role like Mr Khalil.

The Department of Homeland Security claims Ms Chung engaged in "concerning conduct", including her arrest at nearby Barnard College demonstration over student expulsions linked to pro-Palestinian protests, US media report.

The BBC has contacted the agency for comment.

The lawsuit alleges that Trump administration officials began efforts to arrest and detain Ms Chung, days after that 5 March, 2025 sit-in protest she attended.

On 8 March, the lawsuit states, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials signed an arrest warrant for the third-year student, and soon after agents went to her parents' home searching for her.

The suit challenges what it describes as the Trump administration's "pattern and practice of targeting individuals associated with protests for Palestinian rights for immigration enforcement in retaliation for their core protected political speech", her lawyers said.

Ms Chung is one of several university students Trump officials have attempted to detain and deport over their involvement in pro-Palestinian protests.

The lawsuit also names other students facing deportation, including Cornell doctoral student Momodou Taal and Columbia international student Ranjani Srinivasan, whose visa was revoked.

The arrest of Mr Khalil by immigration agents was linked to President Donald Trump's promise to crack down on student demonstrators he accuses of "un-American activity".

He has not been charged with any crime and his detention sparked nationwide protests.

Mr Khalil's wife, who is a US citizen, is eight months pregnant.

The 30-year-old's lawyers say he was exercising free speech rights to demonstrate in support of Palestinians in Gaza and against US support for Israel. They accused the government of "open repression of student activism and political speech".

Trump officials have cited the Immigration and Nationality Act, which allows the State Department to deport non-citizens who are "adversarial to the foreign policy and national security interests" of the US.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has asserted that under this statute, the US could deport visa and green-card holders for "virtually any reason".

The administration has also revoked $400m in Columbia funding over allegations the university failed to combat antisemitism on campus.

The university has agreed to several demands from Trump officials - including requiring protesters to provide identification - for it to consider reinstating the funding.

Source:bbc.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c70wprgper4o

--------

JD Vance will join wife on Greenland trip

March 26, 2025

US Vice-President JD Vance will join his wife Usha in travelling to Greenland on Friday, a visit that follows Donald Trump's threats to take over the island.

The couple will go to the Pituffik Space Base to receive a briefing on Arctic security issues and meet members of US forces stationed there, according to the White House.

Usha Vance had planned to travel to the Danish territory on a cultural visit before her husband announced his plans. Trump's National Security Adviser Mike Waltz is also set to visit this week on a separate trip.

Officials in Greenland have fiercely criticised the planned visits as disrespectful.

Greenland - the world's biggest island, situated between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans - has been controlled by Denmark, nearly 3,000km (1,860 miles) away, for about 300 years.

It governs its own domestic affairs, but decisions on foreign and defence policy are made in Copenhagen. The US has long held a security interest and a military presence there since World War Two.

The Pituffik Space Base, located in the north-west of Greenland, supports missile warning, air defence and space surveillance missions.

In a video posted on social media platform X, Vance said there was a lot of excitement around his wife's trip to Greenland. He is joining her because he "didn't want her to have all that fun by herself".

He said the visit to the military installation was to check on the island's security, as "a lot of other countries have threatened Greenland, have threatened to use its territories and its waterways to threaten the United States, to threaten Canada, and of course, to threaten the people of Greenland".

He added that the Trump administration wants to "reinvigorate the security of the people of Greenland", and that the United States and Denmark have ignored it for "far too long".

It is unclear if Mike Waltz is still scheduled to visit. The BBC has reached out to the White House for confirmation.

Dr Dwayne Ryan Menezes, founder and managing director of Polar Research and Policy Initiative think tank, based in London, criticised the visit.

He said it is "highly unusual" that a high-level delegation of US officials are visiting Greenland without being invited, especially after a national election in the country, where the parties are still in talks to form the next government.

The US' interest in Greenland's security, given its strategic importance, makes sense, he said. But he added that it is "inexplicable" for Washington DC to have taken such an aggressive approach, especially in light of Trump's comments about acquiring the territory.

"Disrespecting the people of Greenland by saying the US will acquire it 'one way or the other' is unhelpful and counter-productive as a tactic," he added.

According to recent polls, almost 80% of Greenlanders back independence from Denmark. But an opinion survey in January suggested an even greater number rejected the idea of becoming part of the US.

Source:bbc.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgwjllld1ro

-------

 

Africa

 

UN rights commissioner condemns mosque attack in Niger

March 26, 2025

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk on Tuesday condemned the recent attack on a mosque in Kokorou village, western Niger.

No fewer than 44 worshippers were killed and 20 injured in the attack on Friday.

Assailants from the so-called Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) – an ISIL affiliate – had surrounded Fambita Mosque and randomly shot at worshippers, according to a statement from Niger’s defence ministry.

They then reportedly set a market and several homes on fire.

“The egregious attack on the Fambita Mosque – during Friday prayers in the last 10 days of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan – was clearly intended to cause as many civilian casualties as possible,” Mr Turk said.

This is “in stark violation of international human rights law and humanitarian law,” he said.

He said an impartial investigation should be instituted to bring those responsible to justice.

The attack came in the context of a general deterioration in the security situation in the wider Sahel region.

In recent years, the Sahel had seen a major uptick in violence.

This followed the expansion of armed groups linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL terrorist groups which took over territory in north Mali following the 2012 Tuareg rebellion there.

Since then, the violence has spread into neighbouring countries, Niger and Burkina Faso, and more recently into some other coastal West African nations.

UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed had characterised the Sahel as “ground zero” for one of the most brutal security crises in the world.

In spite of efforts by member states, terrorism-related deaths in the region reportedly soared past 6,000 for three consecutive years, making up more than half of all global fatalities.

Mr Turk said the “calculated assault” on Fambita Mosque should be a wake-up call to all – including the international community – “as to the seriousness of the situation and the widening risks faced by civilians in Niger.”

Governments in the region have continued to struggle with restoring security.

This contributed to two military coups in Mali, two in Burkina Faso and one in Niger between 2020 and 2023.

They all remain under military rule in spite of regional and international pressure to hold elections.

The High Commissioner called on the Nigerien authorities to take meaningful steps to improve security for civilians.

He also called on them to take effective measures to uphold human rights and the rule of law.

Mr Turk said it was essential that authorities involve the affected communities in efforts to find a durable solution to the country’s ongoing human rights crisis.

Source:premiumtimesng.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/783729-un-rights-commissioner-condemns-mosque-attack-in-niger.html

---------

Ramadan: Oyebanji Assures Muslims Of Appointments In Strategic Positions

Mar 25, 2025

Shojobi Abisola

Ekiti State Governor, Mr Biodun Oyebanji has assured the Muslim community that more of their members will be appointed into strategic positions in his government.

The Governor gave the assurance on Monday evening when he joined hundreds of Muslims leaders and faithful across the state to break their fast at the Lady Jibowu Hall, Government House, Ado-Ekiti.

Governor Oyebanji thanked the Muslim community for their continuous prayers and support for his administration, stressing that their prayers have been instrumental to the peace, stability and development the state is witnessing.

While commending Muslims in his cabinet for being good ambassadors of the Muslim community, the Governor said their dedication and contributions have positively impacted his administration, assuring that the number of Muslims in his government would not decrease but instead increase as his tenure progresses.

“I don’t have much to say today than just to thank you and I will continue to appreciate you every day for your prayers and support. I deeply appreciate you for dealing with me with a pure heart.

“When the SSG reeled out the number of Muslims in our government, it cannot be less than that, it can only be more and before the end of this tenure, we will bring more people to the government”, the  Governor assured.

Earlier in her opening remarks, the Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Habibat Adubiaro expressed her profound gratitude to the Governor for his unprecedented commitment to inclusivity in governance with the appointment of over 50 Muslims in different positions in his government, a gesture which she said reflects the Governor’s dedication to equitable representation and genuine regards for the Muslim Community.

While maintaining that the Muslim community has never had it so well in the state, Prof Adubiaro said the Governor’s action has not only fostered unity and trust among religious groups but has also inspired the Muslim faithful to actively support the administration’s vision for the state.

In their separate goodwill messages, a member of Ekiti State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Hakeem Jamiu; President, Ekiti Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Dr Hameed Bakare, and Coordinator, NACOMYO, Alhaji Mudathir Oladele Yusuf, all expressed their appreciation to the Governor for his commitment to inclusivity and equitable representation and for giving Muslim community significant voice in his cabinet.

While describing the Governor as a leader who has consistently demonstrated fairness, respect, and dedication to the well-being of all citizens, the Muslim faithful assured the Governor of their continued prayers and efforts to mobilize the Muslim Community in ensuring his re-election for another term of impactful governance.

The President, League of Imams and Alfa, Southwest, Edo, and Delta States, Alhaji Jamiu Kewulere who also led the Muslim leaders in prayers for Governor Oyebanji and government officials in the state, hailed the Governor for his exemplary leadership and unprecedented support for the Muslim Community, describing it as historic gesture that reflects true equality and fairness.

Also present at the event include, Chief of Staff, Mr Niyi Adebayo, former Senator representing Ekiti Central, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, Muslim leaders and scholars, Political leaders, among others

Source:independent.ng

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://independent.ng/ramadan-oyebanji-assures-muslims-of-appointments-in-strategic-positions/

---------

How ASP Allegedly Killed Police Inspector Reported To Have Committed Suicide – Sources

March 26, 2025

A Nigerian police inspector, Ajele Oloyede, died last Thursday after allegedly being shot by Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Tolorunloju Stephen at a ceramics company in Igbesa, Ogun State.

Naija News understands that the incident has raised serious concerns within the Ogun State Police Command, with sources pointing to discrepancies in the official account of the death.

An audio recording obtained by SaharaReporters, featuring senior police officers discussing the incident, suggests an attempt to cover up the truth, with claims that Ajele’s death was a suicide being disputed by those familiar with the case. One police officer stated that Ajele was shot by ASP Stephen, despite the latter’s denial of any wrongdoing.

“We don’t know what happened between him and that ASP. That ASP used his pistol to fire Ajele instantly, but he denied it,” said the officer, further questioning the official narrative, which suggested Ajele had killed himself with a rifle. “How come Ajele had a rifle to kill himself as they claimed? We told the CP, Ajele never went out with a rifle. His rifle, uniform, and shoes were with us. He took proper permission before he left that day.”

Another officer added that the nature of the bullet wound did not support the suicide claim. “The bullet penetration does not suggest suicide. If it were, he would have shot himself in the head,” the officer remarked.

ASP Tolorunloju Stephen, who is based at the Force Headquarters Annex in Lagos but was deployed to the ceramics company in Sango-Ota, Ogun State, is now the prime suspect in the shooting. According to sources, Stephen was the first to raise the alarm after the shooting, which many believe was an attempt to manipulate the situation.

The Ogun State Police Command initially stated that Ajele’s death was a suicide, with the spokesperson, Omolola Odutola, explaining that Stephen discovered Ajele’s body after hearing a gunshot.

However, Odutola later retracted her statement, admitting that the suicide claim was based on preliminary findings and not conclusive evidence. “When a crime happens, the first thing we do is gather information from the first respondent,” she explained. “The report was given at the preliminary level of investigation, and we are now conducting a full forensic investigation.”

While Odutola promised a thorough investigation, insiders within the police force have expressed concerns that ASP Stephen is being shielded from accountability. One officer criticized the handling of the case, questioning why Stephen had not been detained. “If it were a junior officer who fired that shot, he would have been behind bars by now. But this ASP is walking free,” the officer said.

Colleagues and friends of the deceased inspector have rejected the suicide theory, pointing to Ajele’s personal achievements and stable life. “How can someone who owned three plots of land and had built a house just wake up one day and kill himself? Let us be reasonable,” one senior officer remarked.

The incident has sparked outrage within the police force, with some officers suggesting that Ajele’s name may be tarnished posthumously to cover up the truth. One officer also disclosed that a colleague who defended Ajele’s movements and granted him permission to leave work was punished for standing by the truth, accused of “lack of supervision” and “insubordination.”

Source:naijanews.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.naijanews.com/2025/03/26/how-asp-allegedly-killed-police-inspector-reported-to-have-committed-suicide-sources/

--------

At least 54 killed in Sudanese military airstrike on market

March 26, 2025

At least 54 people were killed in a military airstrike on a local market in Sudan’s western region, aid groups reported Tuesday.

The attack on the village of Tora on Monday caused a massive fire. The Sudanese military denied targeting civilians, calling the allegations "incorrect." However, rights groups have condemned the strike, calling it a "war crime" due to its impact on densely populated areas. More than half of the victims were women, and at least 23 others were injured.

The ongoing conflict, which began in April 2023, has left over 28,000 dead, with millions displaced. The situation in Darfur remains dire as both sides continue to escalate violence.

Source:africanews.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.africanews.com/2025/03/25/at-least-54-killed-in-sudanese-military-airstrike-on-market/

--------

Ramadan: FG Expected To Declare March 31st, April 1st As Public Holiday

March 25, 2025

By Enioluwa Adeniyi

In Nigeria, the Federal Government traditionally declares public holidays to mark significant festivals, including Eid al-Fitr, which signifies the end of Ramadan.

The exact dates for these holidays are determined based on the Islamic lunar calendar and the sighting of the moon.

Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, commenced on Saturday, March 1, 2025, and will be concluded on Sunday, March 29, 2025.

Consequently, Eid al-Fitr is anticipated to be observed on Monday, March 31, 2025, with an additional holiday on Tuesday, April 1, 2025.

The Nigerian government typically announces public holidays for Eid al-Fitr a few days in advance. For 2025, the Federal Government is projected to officially declare Monday, March 31, and Tuesday, April 1, 2025, as public holidays to celebrate Eid al-Fitr.

On these public holidays, government offices, banks, and most businesses are closed. Muslim communities across the country engage in special prayers, feasts, and charitable activities to commemorate the end of Ramadan.

The commencement of Ramadan and the subsequent dates for Eid al-Fitr are subject to the sighting of the moon. Therefore, while the dates mentioned above are based on astronomical calculations, the actual observation may vary by one day, depending on the moon sighting. The Nigerian government usually confirms the exact dates shortly before the events.

It’s advisable to stay updated with official announcements from the Federal Government and religious authorities for any changes to the holiday schedule.

Source:naijanews.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.naijanews.com/2025/03/25/ramadan-fg-expected-to-declare-march-31st-april-1st-as-public-holiday/

---------

Nigeria’s Unstable North-West

 25 Mar 2025

By Joshua Ocheja

The prevalence of security threats in North-West Nigeria could be attributed to the spill over of conflicts from neighbouring countries. According to historical records, one of the earliest religious conflicts in North-West Nigeria was the *Maitatsine Riots,* which occurred in Kano state in 1980, resulting in significant loss of lives and destruction of properties. The Maitatsine sect, a radical Islamic group founded by Muhammad Marwa, a Cameroonian immigrant, emphasized a return to pure Islamic practices and rejection of Western influences. This highlights the vulnerability of Nigeria’s porous borders, which has perpetuated instability, enabled the proliferation of ungoverned spaces in the North West, and compromised national security with far-reaching consequences.

This region, comprising seven states – Kaduna, Kano, Sokoto, Katsina, Kebbi, Jigawa, and Zamfara – is particularly vulnerable due to its extensive borders with the Niger Republic, which has become a conduit for instability. Furthermore, Niger Republic’s porous borders and instability have fostered an environment conducive to the spread of extremist ideologies, including those from Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS). This underscores the need for a nuanced understanding of these regional dynamics to inform effective security strategies in North-West Nigeria.

Niger Republic’s complex political history is deeply intertwined with its geography, making regional dynamics crucial to its stability. The country’s Hausa ethnic group and widespread use of the Hausa language have created cultural and linguistic ties with North-West Nigeria. This has enabled the spread of ideologies and influences, including extremist ideologies from countries in the Sahel region, including Libya. Yes, Libya is considered part of the Sahel region. The Sahel region spans several countries in West Africa, including Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, and The Gambia.

Although Libya is often associated with North Africa, its southern region is culturally and geographically part of the Sahel. Southern Libya has been a hotspot for extremist ideologies, with cities like *Kufra,* *Sabha,* and *Murzuq* hosting groups like *Ansar al-Sharia,* Islamic State (IS), and *Al-Qaeda* in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). These jihadists have exploited the region’s porous borders, lack of governance, and economic instability to recruit, train, and launch attacks into neighbouring countries, including Mali, Niger, and Chad. They thus continue to perpetuate regional instability and insecurity.

The *Lakurawa* militia, responsible for widespread violence in North-West Nigeria, originated in Niger Republic, with ties to the Islamic State Sahel Province (ISSP), formerly known as Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS). Initially gaining acceptance in Sokoto State as a self-defence group against bandits, their relationship with local communities deteriorated due to ISSP’s strict governance, imposing harsh Islamic law interpretations.

The proliferation of ungoverned swathes of hectarage in Nigeria by criminal elements from neighbouring countries is driven by a complex interplay of factors, including institutional weaknesses, security lapses, and infrastructure deficits. The lack of a clear strategy by the political leadership has further exacerbated the issue, enabling extremist groups to exploit these vulnerabilities. Poor infrastructure, such as inadequate roads, electricity, water, and healthcare, has hindered economic growth, perpetuated poverty, and created an environment conducive to extremist activity. Military intervention alone is insufficient, as it only addresses symptoms rather than the underlying root causes.

Effective border security is crucial in addressing the security challenges in the North-West. However, despite the presence of paramilitary organizations at the borders, a comprehensive border security strategy remains elusive in the region. The lack of reliable data on border points aggravates this challenge, with estimates based on assumptions rather than empirical evidence. This ambiguity hinders efforts to counter threats from groups like Lakurawa and other militias operating in the region.

Border security and ungoverned spaces are intricately linked. The porousness of border security, poverty and ungoverned spaces are linked as stimulants to terrorism with weak border security allowing for the free flow of illicit activities into ungoverned spaces, which in turn provide safe havens for criminal elements, insurgents, and terrorists. It enables smuggling and trafficking, fuelling instability in vacant stretches of the national space. At the same time, the lack of state presence in these areas makes it difficult to establish effective border security measures. This dynamic has contributed to regional instability, as insecurity spills across borders, underscoring the need for a comprehensive approach to address the trio of border security, poverty and unpoliced spaces, particularly in North-West Nigeria.

Nigeria’s current border security measures are woefully outdated and ill-equipped to address the complexities of evolving security threats. The traditional approach of relying on checkpoints manned by customs, immigration, and police personnel is no longer effective. A potential quick fix is using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones for regular border surveillance. Drones significantly enhance border surveillance, increase operational capacity, and efficiently survey vast, remote areas, making them a vital tool in strengthening border security. Moreover, the military’s focus on clearance operations, although well-intentioned, merely addresses the symptoms rather than the underlying structural issues plaguing Nigeria’s security architecture.

The notion that the military is failing to protect Nigeria’s territorial integrity is a distorted assessment. The crux of the issue lies in the pervasive ungoverned spaces across the country, with the North-West as the most affected. Despite military operations such as *Operation Hadarin Daji,* which covers Katsina, Zamfara, and Sokoto states, *Operation Sahel Sanity,* which focuses on Katsina, Sokoto, and parts of Zamfara states, and *Operation Whirl Punch,* which targets Kaduna State and its environs, a comprehensive approach that addresses governance, development, and infrastructure provision is necessary to achieve lasting peace and security in the North-West.

A paradigm shift in approach is imperative. To effectively address insecurity, the government must transition from a solely military-centric strategy to a comprehensive approach that tackles the underlying causes of instability. This multifaceted strategy should prioritize purposeful leadership, technological innovation, and infrastructure development to address unoccupied spaces, institution-building, and improved access to essential services like healthcare, education, and water, thereby fostering a more stable and secure environment.

This holistic approach should involve the federal, state, and local governments working together to focus on improving state presence in border communities in the North-West. Specifically, state governments should prioritize strengthening institutions, promoting economic development, and improving access to basic services. Local government areas should focus on grassroots development, community engagement, and social cohesion initiatives. In particular, governors of states in the North-West must rise to the occasion by demonstrating leadership and commitment to securing their territories and protecting their citizens. By working together, the different tiers of government can create an environment that enables the military to succeed in its security operations and ultimately ensures the protection of our territorial integrity.

Source:dailytrust.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://dailytrust.com/nigerias-unstable-north-west/

--------

CS Muturi was an 'incompetent' AG, says Ruto

March 26, 2025

President William Ruto has hit out at Cabinet Secretary for Public Service Justin Muturi, saying he proved to be incompetent as Attorney General.

Speaking at State House, Nairobi during an iftar session for muslim community members, Ruto accused Muturi of delaying the rollout of the Muslim Endowment Fund (Wadf) that had been proposed by muslim leaders.

"I agree with you that the Muslim Endowment Fund has taken too long. There is no reason. I had a problem with the AG who was there, he was fairly incompetent, but we now have a competent lady and I can assure you that the issue will be sorted out," Ruto stated.

According to Ruto, Muturi failed to handle the legal aspect concerning the establishment of the commission in charge of the management of Islamic endowment.

The fund is a form of charitable endowment where assets are dedicated permanently for religious or charitable purposes, with the income generated used to support ongoing charitable objectives like education, healthcare, and social services.

Muturi has been a critic of the Kenya Kwanza administration following the escalating cases of abductions in the country, especially after the Gen Z protests last year.

The Public Service CS served as the Attorney General between 2022 and 2024.

Source:standardmedia.co.ke

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/politics/article/2001514695/cs-muturi-was-an-incompetent-ag-says-ruto

--------

GES grants Muslim students break for Eid-ul-Fitr celebrations

Mar - 25 - 2025

The Ghana Education Service (GES) has directed all senior high schools to allow Muslim students a break from Friday, March 28, 2025, to Tuesday, April 1, 2025, to enable them to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr with their families.

The directive follows an announcement by the Minister of the Interior, Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak, declaring Monday, March 31, and Tuesday, April 1, 2025, as public holidays in observance of the Islamic festival, which is expected to fall on Sunday, March 30, 2025.

A statement signed by Prof. Smile Dzisi, Acting Deputy Director-General (MS) for the Director-General of GES, instructed all Regional Directors to ensure school heads implement the directive.

Muslim students are expected to return to school on Tuesday, April 1, 2025.

The move aligns with a previous assurance by the government to recognise the religious practices of the Muslim community. It is also expected to address concerns from students and parents who have struggled in the past to balance academic schedules with religious obligations.

Source:graphic.com.gh

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/ges-grants-muslim-students-break-for-eid-ul-fitr-celebrations.html

--------

Shettima, Atiku, Buhari Condole With Gov. Radda Over Mother’s Death

By Tijjani Ibrahim

25 Mar 2025

Vice President Kashim Shettima was in Katsina State Tuesday afternoon, to condole with Governor Dikko Radda over the death of his mother, Hajiya Safara’u Umaru Barebari.

The vice president who was received by the bereaved governor at the Katsina government house, said he was in the state on the instruction of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to commiserate with the bereaved family and the entire people of Katsina State.

“A mother is a mother. Yes she died at the ripe old age of 93, but is still a major blow, because she has been a rock of Gibraltar, a major powerful standing point.”

“We pray to Almighty Allah grant her soul a rest in peace and May Allah grant her Jannatul Firdaus. May Allah give the family and the people of Katsina State the fortitude to bear this irreparable loss,” the VP prayed.

Also in the state to condole with the governor was the former vice president, Atiku Abubakar.

The former VP also prayed for the repose of the soul of Hajiya Safara’u and for Allah to give the family the fortitude to bear the loss.

“On behalf of my team, I extend my deepest condolences to you, your family and the people of Katsina over this great loss.”

“Living for 93 years is a rare blessing, one that we deeply cherish. Of course, we never want to lose our loved ones, but ultimately, that is the reality of life,” the former VP said.

Similarly, the Borno State Deputy Governor, Umar Usman Kadafur, who was in Katsina on behalf of the governor, said, “On behalf of HE Prof. Babagana Zulum and the people of Borno State, we stand with you during this difficult time.”

“We have come alongside my wife to offer our prayers. We pray for the soul of the deceased to rest in peace,” he added.

Responding on behalf of Katsina State, Deputy Governor Malam Faruk Lawal Jobe, expressed gratitude, saying “On behalf of His Excellency, the Governor, the government, and the good people of Katsina State, we deeply appreciate your visit and your prayers following the passing of our dear mother.”

“Your presence here means a lot to us. We sincerely appreciate you for identifying with us during this moment of grief. Your visit is a demonstration of true solidarity and brotherhood,”the deputy governor remarked.

In related development, former president Muhammadu Buhari also commiserated with the governor over his mother’s death.

Buhari sent a delegation headed by the former minister of water resources, Suleiman Adamu.

Barebari, 93, died Saturday night at her residence in Abuja, after a protracted illness.

She was buried at the Radda family house, at Radda village, Charanchi Local Government Area on Sunday evening.

Source:dailytrust.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://dailytrust.com/shettima-atiku-buhari-condole-with-gov-radda-over-mothers-death/

------

Reps seek NJC’s input in judges’ removal

25th March 2025

Dirisu Yakubu

A bill seeking to amend the 1999 Constitution to make mandatory the recommendation of the National Judicial Council before the removal of heads of Nigerian courts, passed a second reading in the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

The bill, which has been referred to the House Committee on Constitution Review, was sponsored by the Speaker, Mr Tajudeen Abbas.

Leading the debate on the general principles of the bill, Edo lawmaker, Marcus Onobun, said the intent of the bill is to alter Section 292(1)(a)(i) and (ii) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria such that the heads of Nigerian courts –“Chief Justice of Nigeria, President of the Court of Appeal, Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, President of the National Industrial Court, Chief Judge of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Grand Kadi of the Sharia Court of Appeal of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and President, Customary Court of Appeal of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja (all of who may be removed by the President on an address by Senate), and Chief Judge of a State, Grand Kadi of a Sharia Court of Appeal or President of a Customary Court of Appeal of a State (all of who may be removed by the Governor of the appropriate state on an address by the appropriate State House of Assembly), shall only be removed from office upon prior investigation by the National Judicial Council of the allegations laid out in the address by Senate or the state legislatures respectively carried out and concluded within six weeks in line with the Supreme Court judgment in Elelu-Habeeb & Anor. v. A-G of the Federation & 2 Ors. (2012) 13 N.W.L.R. (Pt. 1318) 423.”

According to him, Section 292(1)(a)(i) and (ii) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) clearly states the procedure for removing the heads of Nigerian courts.

Section 292 (1) provides that “A judicial officer shall not be removed from his office or appointment before his age of retirement except in the following circumstances – “(a) in the case of –“Chief Justice of Nigeria, President of the Court of Appeal, Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Chief Judge of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Grand Kadi of the Sharia Court of Appeal of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and President, Customary Court of Appeal of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, by the President acting on an address supported by two-thirds majority of the Senate;

“Chief Judge of a State, Grand Kadi of a Sharia Court of Appeal or President of a Customary Court of Appeal of a State, by the governor acting on an address supported by a two-thirds majority of the House of Assembly of the State.”

Onobun, however, expressed worry that the procedure laid down does not include a role for the National Judicial Council in the removal of the aforementioned heads of courts.

He further argued that Section 292(1)(b) anomalously provides that “In every other case outside the removal of the heads of courts, i.e. other justices, judges, kadis, etc., the recommendation of the National Judicial Council shall be a requirement to carry such removal through.

“There is also nothing in the provisions to suggest that the Chief Executive and the Legislature, acting between them, need to substantiate their action with evidence.”

Onobun also told his colleagues that the provisions of the Constitution have left the heads of courts exclusively “At the mercy of the President and the Governors and the Federal and State legislatures respectively, as the case may be, without the participation of the National Judicial Council.

“Consequently, the state of the constitutional provisions abuses the doctrine of separation of powers and the attendant checks and balances instituted by the constitution as well as it, more fundamentally, infringes upon the much-cherished independence of the Nigerian courts as it authorises the removal of heads of courts by the other arms without charge, trial or culpability.

“Given the general provision in paragraph 21(b) and (d) of Part I of the Third Schedule to the Constitution that the NJC may recommend the removal of any head of court to the President in the case of section 292(1)(a)(i) and to the Governors in the case of section 292(1)(a)(ii), the constitutional provisions have the effect of laying down two (2) parallel procedures of removing heads of courts i.e. one as between the President or Governor and the Legislature but excluding the NJC and the other as between the NJC and the President or Governor but excluding the Legislature.”

He further argued that “By involving the NJC, it ensured that such judicial personnel would only be removed upon evidence established with the skill and expertise of the council and not frivolously and/or arbitrarily.

“It will also extinguish the ambiguity, nay absurdity, of the proposal that the members of a court could be removed subject only to procedures that were more onerous than the procedures for the removal of the head of the same court,” stressing that “The challenge to the independence of our courts must be removed once and for all.”

He urged his colleagues to support the bill, saying, “This is an opportunity to alter the Constitution and give what is already the law as laid down by the Supreme Court constitutional prominence thereby obscuring pretensions to ignorance; strengthen the doctrine of separation of powers; and advance our guardian constitutional principle of checks and balances by altering the Constitution in the terms of this bill.”

The bill was referred to the Constitution Review Committee for further legislative input ahead of the third and final reading.

Source:punchng.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://punchng.com/reps-seek-njcs-input-in-judges-removal/

--------

Afenifere Slams National Assembly For Backing State Of Emergency In Rivers State

March 26, 2025

By Enioluwa Adeniyi

The Pan-Yoruba socio-political organization, Afenifere, has fiercely criticized the National Assembly for supporting President Bola Tinubu’s declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State, accusing the lawmakers of undermining the 1999 Constitution.

Naija News reports that Afenifere condemned the actions of the National Assembly, asserting that the lawmakers have shown a lack of courage in defending the democratic rights of Nigerians.

In a communique issued after its National Caucus meeting held at the residence of the late Pa Ayo Adebanjo in Isanya Ogbo, Ogun State, Afenifere stated that the actions of the National Assembly were a significant blow to the country’s constitutional integrity.

The communique was signed by the group’s Leader, Oba Oladipo Olaitan, and the National Publicity Secretary, Prince Justice Faloye.

The Yoruba group argued that the move by President Tinubu and the backing from the National Assembly represent “an ill wind” that does not benefit Nigeria, calling the actions an affront to the wishes of the people.

The communique expressed disappointment in the National Assembly, which it said not only supported the President’s decision but also failed to uphold the constitution.

Afenifere pointed out that, according to the 1999 Constitution, any matter of national importance, such as the declaration of a state of emergency, requires a two-thirds majority vote from both chambers of the National Assembly.

The group further criticized the use of voice votes, arguing that such a method obscures compliance with constitutional requirements.

Afenifere stated, “Contrary to the expectation of Nigerians, the 10th Assembly in both chambers not only joined hands with the President in further desecrating the tenuous 1999 Constitution but also demonstrated a lack of courage to defend the democratic rights of the people of Nigeria.”

fenifere also highlighted the persistent violations of oaths of office by the National Assembly, calling for the current leadership to step aside in the interest of decency, integrity, and respect for the principles of separation of powers that form the foundation of Nigeria’s democracy.

The group further criticized the recent vote of confidence on the Senate President, describing it as an admission of a crisis of trust within the Senate.

Afenifere remarked that the Senate President presided over the vote despite the concerns of the public, deepening the perception of dysfunction within the legislative body.

The group also warned that the ongoing crisis regarding Nigeria’s constitutional integrity could lead to undemocratic practices, similar to how Hitler manipulated Germany’s democratic systems.

The group expressed concern that the executive branch is consolidating too much power, undermining the principles of federalism and separation of powers.

In conclusion, Afenifere urged Nigerians to rise and restore the rule of law, emphasizing the importance of protecting the country’s democracy.

The group called for immediate action to prevent the erosion of the hard-won democratic freedoms that have been fought for over the years.

“We must nip this in the bud before our hard-won democracy is destroyed,” Afenifere warned.

Source:naijanews.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.naijanews.com/2025/03/26/afenifere-slams-national-assembly-for-backing-state-of-emergency-in-rivers-state/

---------

Bill To Stop President, Governors’ From Proclaiming New Legislatures Passes Second Reading

March 26, 2025

A bill aimed at stripping the President and governors of the power to proclaim a new session of the National and State Houses of Assembly was among 39 proposed laws that passed second reading in the House of Representatives.

Currently, the 1999 Constitution grants the President and governors the authority to issue proclamations, which are read by the Clerks of the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly before new lawmakers are inaugurated for legislative duties.

Without such proclamations, the Assemblies cannot function, and neither the President nor the governors would be able to operate constitutionally due to the absence of a legislative arm of government.

Among the other significant bills that passed the process without debate was one proposing reforms to the nation’s electoral system. The proposed law aims to ensure that all litigation related to elections is resolved before the inauguration of election winners.

Additional bills include those seeking the creation of state police, special legislative seats for Persons with Disabilities (PWD), and representation for special interest groups.

House Leader Julius Ihonvbere requested the suspension of House rules to allow the second reading of the bills together, and there was no objection to the motion. Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu, who presided over the session, directed Ihonvbere to proceed with the request.

The bills were divided into six categories: 13 related to electoral matters, 10 on judicial reform, seven on the legislature, three focused on inclusive governance, one on security, and five others covering various issues.

One notable bill sponsored by Speaker Abbas Tajudeen seeks to amend the 1999 Constitution to make the recommendations of the National Judicial Council (NJC) mandatory for the removal of a head of a court, either by the President or a governor.

There is also a proposed law for the establishment of an Ecclesiastical Court of Appeal for the Federation, the 36 states, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), along with another proposal to make the Court of Appeal the final authority for governorship and legislative election matters.

Other bills on electoral reforms seek to regulate election timelines within the Electoral Act and require members of Parliament wishing to defect from their political parties to first resign from their positions. They also propose amending the Constitution to extend the Court of Appeal’s jurisdiction to include election petitions arising from governorship and deputy governorship elections.

Further, some of the bills seek to grant the National Assembly the power to adjust timelines for election tribunals and enforce the compulsory resignation of National and State Executive members of political parties seeking elective positions.

Additionally, there is a push for constitutional amendments to ensure that presidential, governorship, National Assembly, and House of Assembly elections are held simultaneously on the same day, as determined by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in consultation with the National Assembly.

Source:naijanews.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.naijanews.com/2025/03/26/bill-to-stop-president-governors-from-proclaiming-new-legislatures-passes-second-reading/

---------

 

Southeast Asia

 

What’s in a name? NRD says modern spellings like Ameer and Zahra on the rise, but classics like Muhammad and Siti endure

26 Mar 2025

PUTRAJAYA, March 26 — The names Muhammad, Abdul, Nur and Siti continue to top Malaysia’s baby name charts, reflecting deep cultural roots and Islamic identity, according to the National Registration Department (JPN).

JPN director-general Badrul Hisham Alias said these names are often chosen for their strong ties to Islamic identity and Malay heritage.

“Names like Muhammad, Abdul, Nur and Siti are commonly followed by a second name. Parents typically draw inspiration from baby name books, parenting websites, the Quran, hadiths or language experts before making their choice,” he told Bernama.

He noted that parents today tend to favour names that are not only easy to pronounce and remember but also carry positive meanings.

Islamic and Arabic-inspired names such as Aisyah, Maryam and Rayyan remain popular for their beautiful meanings, he added.

Badrul Hisham also noted a growing trend of parents altering the spelling of traditional names to add a modern touch, with Amir now often spelled as Ameer and Zahra as Zara.

JPN records show that the longest registered name contains 15 words, while the shortest name is just two letters, he said.

While creativity is welcomed, he advised parents to consult JPN if they are uncertain about name choices to avoid complications during registration.

Under Section 16 of the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1957 (Act 299) for Peninsular Malaysia, the Registrar-General has the authority to accept or reject a name.

JPN has also introduced official guidelines for naming children, which outline three categories namely objectionable names (such as ranks and titles), undesirable names and names linked to ancestry.

“Titles such as Tan Sri, Datuk, Tun, Haji, Nabi, Governor, Dr and Mahaguru are prohibited,” Badrul Hisham said.

He added that parents are also advised against naming children after animals, fruits, vegetables, or objects, and abbreviations like D, Mohd, Abd or M are not permitted.

For hereditary titles such as Tengku, Megat and Puteri, JPN will assess whether the title is genuinely inherited before approving its use.

Non-Muslim families are also required to adhere to naming guidelines, which prohibit names that imply divinity, he added. — Bernama

Source:malaymail.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2025/03/26/whats-in-a-name-nrd-says-modern-spellings-like-ameer-and-zahra-on-the-rise-but-classics-like-muhammad-and-siti-endure/170922

---------

Govt readies 6,291 mosques to support Eid homecoming exodus

March 25, 2025

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Ministry of Religious Affairs has prepared 6,291 mosques as posts under the Friendly Mosque initiative to support and accommodate people participating in the 2025 Eid al-Fitr homecoming exodus.

"We have coordinated with the regional offices of the ministry so that the mosque-based posts along the homecoming routes are ready to provide the best services," Director General of Islamic Community Development at the ministry Abu Rokhmad said here on Tuesday.

He added that the mosques, which will remain open 24 hours, have been prepared in keeping with the suggestion of Religious Affairs Minister Nasaruddin Umar so that the ministry can participate in providing comfort to homecoming travelers.

He informed that the mosques will provide clean water, places to rest, and even meals for iftar.

He said that the Ministry of Religious Affairs is continuing to urge its staff and regional mosque management agencies (BKM) to make efforts to encourage mosques to provide the best services.

"This is a real manifestation of religious services that have an impact on the community," he added.

Based on data from the Directorate General of Islamic Community Development, 6,291 mosques spread across 23 provinces are ready to serve as Eid homecoming posts.

With the collaboration and contribution of all related parties in the regions, the program is expected to help homecoming travelers.

According to him, that number will continue to grow. The community has also started to participate in the effort, for instance, by donating food.

The Friendly Mosque program has been implemented based on the Circular of Religious Affairs Minister Number 2 of 2025. Minister Umar has asked mosques to remain open round-the-clock to support the smoothness of the 2025 homecoming exodus flow.

Source:antaranews.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://en.antaranews.com/news/349809/govt-readies-6291-mosques-to-support-eid-homecoming-exodus

--------

Local productions must ensure works align with Islamic faith - Mohd Na’im

Bernama

25-03- 2025

KUALA LUMPUR: Local film and drama industry players are reminded to uphold responsibility in producing works that do not contradict Islamic faith and values, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Datuk Dr Mohd Na’im Mokhtar.

Commenting on the portrayal of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) elements in local dramas, he said the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) has provided clear guidelines for production houses to refer to before producing any content.

“LGBT elements clearly go against Islamic teachings and should not be featured, especially during Ramadan.

“What values are we promoting? Because I believe dramas play an important role in shaping the morals and outlook of society,” he told reporters after attending the World #QuranHour 2025 programme at the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) here today.

A drama being broadcast on a local pay-TV channel recently went viral and faced criticism for featuring immoral elements.

Meanwhile, commenting on the latest situation in Gaza, Mohd Na’im stressed that Muslims must stand united in defending the rights of the Palestinian people, as highlighted in Surah Al-Saff, which was the focus of this year’s World #QuranHour.

“Muslims worldwide must stand together like Bunyanun Marsus, a solid structure, in fighting for the freedom of Palestinians from the grip of the Zionist regime,” he said.

He added that he is considering the recital of Qunut Nazilah special supplication after Aidilfitri prayers to pray for the well-being of Muslims in Gaza.

Earlier, Mohd Na’im attended the 10th edition of World #QuranHour 2025 at the Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Mosque here.

Tengku Ampuan Pahang Tunku Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah graced the event, which was held simultaneously in 313 locations across 79 countries.

Also present was the Prime Minister’s wife Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who is also Bandar Tun Razak MP.

Source:thesun.my

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://thesun.my/malaysia-news/local-productions-must-ensure-works-align-with-islamic-faith-mohd-na-im-CP13850174

-------

Man arrested for allegedly uploading offensive post on Islam

Bernama

25-03- 2025

KUALA LUMPUR: Police arrested a 57-year-old man suspected of uploading insulting posts against Islam on his Facebook account.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain said the suspect, a local, was arrested at a house in Taman Johor Jaya, Johor Bahru at about 2.30 pm today, during which the police also seized a mobile phone, believed to be used to upload the posts.

“The case is being investigated under Section 298A of the Penal Code and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998,“ he told Bernama today.

Last Friday, Razarudin said police were investigating the owner of Facebook account Prem Esaan after he was suspected of insulting Islam following a report lodged at the Jalan Tun Razak Police Station.

Earlier, a social media post allegedly containing controversial remarks challenging soldiers and Muslims in Malaysia to go to Gaza went viral. The post also reportedly mocked criticism against Israel as meaningless.

The statement drew reactions from various quarters and was deemed to have touched on religious sensitivities.

Source:thesun.my

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://thesun.my/malaysia-news/man-arrested-for-allegedly-uploading-offensive-post-on-islam-DP13850245

---------

Seremban mosque security footage shows man prying open donation box, police probe underway

theSun

25-03- 2025

PETALING JAYA: A man was caught on camera allegedly stealing money from a donation box in a mosque using a drill.

The incident took place in Mambau, Seremban at around 7.15 am last Saturday (March 22), according to Kosmo.

Seremban district police chief ACP Mohamad Hatta Che Din said a ‘bilal’ of the mosque reported the incident, stating that the donation box was “pried open”, as quoted.

“Review of the closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage showed the presence of an unidentified man wearing a helmet and a dark-coloured jacket approaching from the back of the ‘surau’.

“The suspect is believed to have broken into the ‘surau’ by cutting the lock on the right-side iron grille door using a drill,” Mohamad Hatta was quoted as saying.

He added that the suspect then used a tool to “pry open” the unlocked donation box and took the money.

Previously, security footage of the alleged robbery circulated all over social media showing a man wearing a motorcycle helmet entering the ‘surau’ and using a tool to break into the donation box.

Residents in the area claim that the suspect rode a “high-powered motorcycle” and a Proton X50 car and was believed to have taken less than 30 minutes to pry open the donation box.

The case is being investigated under Section 457 of the Penal Code and the police are currently tracking down the suspect.

Source:thesun.my

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://thesun.my/malaysia-news/seremban-mosque-security-footage-shows-man-prying-open-donation-box-police-probe-underway-BO13849392

---------

No vested interest, Malaysia Aviation Group’s purchase of Boeing above board, says finance minister’s pol-sec

26 Mar 2025

PADANG RENGAS, March 26 — Malaysia Aviation Group’s (MAG) recent purchase of Boeing aircraft was carried out in accordance with established procedures and terms, said the finance minister’s political secretary, Muhammad Kamil Abdul Munim.

He dismissed opposition claims that the aircraft purchase involved vested interests.

Muhammad Kamil said the opposition should not question the purchase, as it followed the established approach practised by previous administrations.

“The process of purchasing aircraft takes time and must be coordinated according to pricing and other factors. It was only recently that all parties agreed to it.

“In any case, our policy and approach have always been to use Boeing aircraft. So, what’s the issue? There is no question of any vested interest in this purchase, including to solicit a meeting (for the Prime Minister) with the United States President,” he said when met at the Iftar Perdana and the presentation of MADANI Aidilfitri contributions at Al-Hadhari Mosque here yesterday.

He was responding to Gerakan president Datuk Dominic Lau’s allegation that the purchase of 30 of the US-made aircraft was possibly in exchange for setting up a meeting between Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and President Donald Trump.

On March 22, Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz clarified that the aircraft purchase was an investment to strengthen Malaysia’s position as a key player in the global aviation industry.

Tengku Zafrul stressed that the move also supported the operations of Boeing Composites Malaysia, which manufactures Boeing aircraft structures in Malaysia and currently employs around 1,000 local workers. — Bernama

Source:malaymail.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2025/03/26/no-vested-interest-malaysia-aviation-groups-purchase-of-boeing-above-board-says-finance-ministers-pol-sec/170898

--------

 

South Asia

 

Cabinet Meeting of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Held in Kabul

2025-03-25

KABUL(BNA): The cabinet meeting of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan convened under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund.

During the meeting, several key issues were assigned to special committees for further deliberation and are expected to be reported back at the next cabinet session.

One of the significant proposals discussed was led by Mawlavi Shamsuddin Shariati, the Acting Director of the Directorate of Monitoring and Enforcement of Decrees and Orders. The cabinet approved measures to prevent the importation of low-quality oil into the country, directing relevant departments to take necessary steps for implementation.

Additionally, all Emirate departments received instructions to collaborate with the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs on large and small projects related to labor recruitment. Emphasis was placed on prioritizing domestic citizens in the hiring process to bolster local employment.

The meeting also covered various other topics, resulting in several essential decisions aimed at the effective governance of the nation.

Source:bakhtarnews.af

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.bakhtarnews.af/en/cabinet-meeting-of-the-islamic-emirate-of-afghanistan-held-in-kabul/

--------

8 among ring leader held for railway ticket black marketing

25 Mar 2025

DHAKA, March 25, 2025 (BSS) - Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) in separate raids in the capital city on Monday arrested eight people, including the mastermind of the railway ticket black marketing ring.

The arrested were identified as ring leader Uttam Chandra Das, 34, son of Hari Das, Habib Ahmed, 26, son of Aminur Islam, and Md. Faruk, 55, son of Labu Sarkar, hailed from Mollabari of Kawla under Dakshinkhan thana, an outsourcing employee of Bangladesh Railway Md. Zubayer, 29, son of Md. Aminul Islam, of Holna Namapara village under the aforesaid thana, Md. Sohel Rana, 21, son of Md. Shariful Islam, of Mohakhali (Karail Basti) under Banani thana, Abdullah Al Mumin, 30, son of Md. Abul Hashem, of Ahmed Bag under Shajahanpur thana, Prakash Chandra Roy, 34, Kamruzzaman, 35, son of Khalilur Rahman, hailed from Kasai Bazar at Prominen Villa (fourth floor), a tenant of Sagar Saheb's house, under Dakshinkhan thana in the city.

RAB-1 personnel apprehended them from Airport and Kamalapur Railway Stations with several online tickets, 12 mobile phones and Taka 3,03,042 in cash.

Deputy Commander of the RAB-1 Lt Commander Mohammad Zakiul Karim briefed newsmen about the arrest at Uttara RAB-1 Headquarters here.

The RAB has initiated an investigation into the railway ticket black marketing to find out real culprits, he said.

RAB made the arrest after intensifying intelligence upon receiving complaints of railway ticket black marketing.

In the primary investigation, it was found that some outsourcing railway staff along with some employees of the online ticket purchase platform shohoz.com have allegedly been involved in the misdeeds.

For the first time, Bangladesh Railway is selling 100 percent of its tickets through the online platform to stop ticket black marketing.

During the preliminary interrogation, Uttam Chandra Das confessed that he used to sale around 500-700 railway tickets in black market every year during the Eid season and thus earn about Taka three-four lakh illegally.

There were four cases against Uttam Chandra Das with different police stations.

Some dishonest employees of the online platform Shohoz.com confessed to being involved in the ticket black marketing with the arrested Prakash Chandra Roy.

Of the arrestees, Kamruzzaman used to sell over 100-150 tickets per month in black market.

Cases were lodged against the eight arrested individuals with respective police stations in these connections.

Source:bssnews.net

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.bssnews.net/news/258024

--------

DUJ faction demands 6-day Eid holiday

Mar 26, 2025

A faction of the Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ) today sent a letter to the Newspaper Owners' Association of Bangladesh (NOAB), demanding six days of holidays for newspapers during the Eid-ul-Fitr.

In a statement, DUJ President Sazzad Alam Khan Tapu and General Secretary Akter said that newspaper holidays should be aligned with government holidays.

However, NOAB has announced only three days of holidays for newspapers, which the DUJ considers inadequate. The journalists' association asserted that enjoying holidays is a right of journalists and urged NOAB to extend the holiday period to at least five days by adding two more days.

Meanwhile, NOAB recently announced that all newspaper offices will remain closed for three days—March 30, 31, and April 1—for Eid-ul-Fitr. However, if Eid is celebrated on April 1, an additional holiday will be observed on April 2.

Source:thedailystar.net

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/news/duj-faction-demands-6-day-eid-holiday-3857691

--------

There is no such thing as a 'second independence': Mirza Abbas

Mar 26, 2025

BNP Standing Committee Member Mirza Abbas today dismissed the notion of a "second independence", asserting that such claims undermine the historic Liberation War of 1971.

He said that while the nation has faced struggles over the years, its true independence was won through the sacrifices of the martyrs in 1971 and must be upheld with unity and vigilance.

He made these remarks on the morning of Independence Day after paying tribute to the martyrs at the National Memorial.

"First of all, I remember the proclaimer of independence, martyr President Ziaur Rahman, who fought from within the country and liberated it. Even after 54 years of independence, we lost the taste of true freedom in the middle. We got it again after the 5th," he said.

He honoured the martyrs of 1971 who sacrificed their lives for freedom and expressed condolences to their surviving family members. On behalf of BNP leaders Khaleda Zia and Tarique Rahman, he extended greetings to the nation.

Reflecting on recent events, Mirza Abbas said, "We have just got a new taste of democracy by driving away a new form of oppression through the student movement in July and August."

He criticised those referring to the events of 2024 as the "second independence," asserting that such terminology diminishes the significance of the 1971 Liberation War. "Those who say this want to shorten today's Independence Day; they had no role in the independence of 1971. Therefore, they want to diminish this day," he added.

"I want prayers for national leader Khaleda Zia and will seek prayers from Allah so that we can maintain this independence, so that our next generation can uphold this independence," he said.

Addressing political dynamics, Mirza Abbas stated that while different parties have their ideological stances, this does not equate to disunity.

He emphasised that if a time comes when greater national unity is required to protect independence and sovereignty, the people of Bangladesh will unite. "Now, we may be talking differently for party ideological interests, but when the need arises, the people of Bangladesh will be united," he said.

Regarding the assurance from the chief advisor about elections in December, he expressed trust in that commitment. "Every political party in Bangladesh is an opponent. I do not want to believe that elections will not be held," he concluded.

Source:thedailystar.net

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.thedailystar.net/top-news/news/there-no-such-thing-second-independence-mirza-abbas-3857966

---------

Trump Administration halts Green Card Processing for additional vetting

By Fidel Rahmati

March 26, 2025

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced a temporary halt in finalizing certain green card applications, following an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in January.

This suspension of some green card applications aims to conduct additional vetting of the applicants, in line with a directive from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The executive order, titled “Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats,” requires agencies to rigorously vet all individuals applying for, entering, or already inside the United States, particularly those from high-risk regions.

According to CBS News on Tuesday, March 25, the USCIS has directed its staff to focus on conducting extra vetting for refugees or those granted asylum who have applied for permanent residency or green cards.

The DHS confirmed in a statement that it is “placing a temporary pause on finalizing certain adjustment of status applications” until additional screening and vetting are completed.

The statement did not clarify which specific applications would be affected, how long the pause would last, or whether the suspension would impact the agency’s financial operations.

For refugees and asylum seekers, this additional vetting represents a further layer of scrutiny, building on the already rigorous screening process they underwent before entering the U.S.

Laura Collins from the Bush Institute-SMU Economic Growth Initiative emphasized that refugees and asylees are already thoroughly vetted before being approved for resettlement, and the new vetting would be an extra precaution.

The delay in processing applications could lead to a backlog, potentially shrinking the USCIS’s capacity as the agency depends on fees to fund its operations, which could have financial implications.

The pause in processing applications comes as USCIS has made significant progress in reducing its backlog of petitions, cutting it by 15% in 2023 and continuing to reduce it in the following year.

This move reflects the ongoing adjustments to immigration policy under the current administration. While it aims to enhance security, it may also delay the immigration process for many individuals who have already been thoroughly vetted. It will be essential to monitor the effects on both the applicants and the agency’s operational efficiency as this policy unfolds.

The temporary halt in processing green card applications is a significant development that will impact thousands of immigrants waiting for their permanent residency approval. The full implications of this pause, both in terms of the length of the delay and its effects on the U.S. immigration system, remain to be seen.

Source:khaama.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.khaama.com/trump-administration-halts-green-card-processing-for-additional-vetting/

--------

NRC halts some of its Aid Activities in Afghanistan

By Fidel Rahmati

March 25, 2025

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), one of the largest humanitarian organizations active in Afghanistan, has announced that due to a severe budget shortfall, it has been forced to suspend some of its humanitarian activities in the country.

In a statement released on Tuesday, March 25, the Council stated that, like many other aid organizations that have been unable to continue operations in Afghanistan due to reduced humanitarian funding, the NRC is also facing a severe budget cut.

The NRC has warned that the widespread reduction in humanitarian aid will not only diminish the presence of aid agencies in Afghanistan but will also put the lives of millions of people at greater risk.

Jan Egeland, the Secretary-General of the Council, during his recent visit to Afghanistan, stated that the organization, which had provided aid to over 250,000 people in the country in 2024, is now forced to suspend some of its vital programs due to a lack of financial resources. These programs include education, healthcare, food assistance, and support for internally displaced persons (IDPs) and returnees from Iran and Pakistan.

This decision comes at a time when Afghanistan is facing one of the worst humanitarian crises in its modern history, with millions of people in need of urgent assistance. The budget cuts, mainly due to the suspension of U.S. aid and reduced financial support from other donor countries, have severely impacted humanitarian efforts in the country.

According to reports, the NRC helped 772,484 people in Afghanistan in 2022, but this figure dropped to 491,435 in 2023 and further decreased to 216,501 in the past year. The reduction in funding was particularly exacerbated after the U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision in early 2025 to suspend U.S. development assistance for 90 days.

The suspension of U.S. humanitarian aid from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which provided around 20% of the NRC’s annual budget (equivalent to $150 million), has severely impacted the operational capacity of the Council in Afghanistan.

As Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis deepens, international aid organizations like the NRC are facing significant challenges in providing essential services. If these financial constraints continue, many vulnerable groups, including displaced people and children, may face even harsher conditions.

Source:khaama.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.khaama.com/nrc-halts-some-of-its-aid-activities-in-afghanistan/

--------

MoU Signed to Provide Ramadan Aid to Destitute Families

2025-03-25

KABUL(BNA): The Ministry of Martyrs and Disabled Affairs announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Qamar Charity Organization to deliver essential Ramadan assistance to orphans, widows, and individuals with disabilities.

The MoU, valued at 510,000 Afghanis, aims to support the most vulnerable members of society during the holy month.

According to the ministry’s press office, the MoU will facilitate the preparation and distribution of seven types of food supplies to 150 beneficiaries across Kabul and Kunar provinces. The initiative will be executed in close coordination with the provincial offices of the Ministry of Martyrs and Disabled Affairs to ensure effective outreach and support.

The agreement was formalized by Mullah Sadokhan Haqshinas, the Head of Foreign Relations and Planning at the ministry, and Riaz Ahmad Safi, the Operations Manager of the Qamar Charity Organization.

Source:bakhtarnews.af

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.bakhtarnews.af/en/mou-signed-to-provide-ramadan-aid-to-destitute-families/

---------

Police Iftar event brings together key figures and officers

25 March 2025

The Police Iftar ceremony, organized annually by the Sri Lanka Police Buddhist and Religious Affairs Association for Muslim police officers, held for the ninth time this year on the 24th. The event, hosted at the invitation of Acting Inspector General of Police Mr. Priyantha Weerasooriya, took place at the Marine Grand Reception Hall in Wellawatte. Minister of Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs K.M. Ananda Wijepala attended the chiefguest, alongside Muslim Members of Parliament, Foreign Ambassadors from Islamic countries, high-ranking police officers, Muslim police officers, and members of the public.

Source:dailymirror.lk

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.dailymirror.lk/caption-story/Police-Iftar-event-brings-together-key-figures-and-officers/110-305147

-------

 

URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/bangladesh-hindus-muslims-example/d/134985

New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism