Dalit Man, Nagaraju, Killed By His Muslim In-Laws For Honour In Hyderabad
New Age Islam News Bureau
06 May 2022
Nagaraju and Fathima had married against the wishes of her family.
------
• Dalit Man, Nagaraju, Killed By His Muslim In-Laws
For Honour In Hyderabad
• A Senior IAS Officer Cites ‘Love Jihad’ Against A
Youth For Marrying His Daughter, Dr Harsha Bharti Sarangi
• Illegal Pakistani Migrants In European Countries
Fomenting Extremism, Security Challenges
• Mayoral Candidate Lopez Vows To Reverse Chicago’s
Anti-Arab And Anti-Muslim Policies
• Extreme Hunger ‘Grips’ Afghanistan, Taliban
Accountable: Reports
India
• Dalit Man, Nagaraju, Killed By His Muslim In-Laws
For Honour In Hyderabad
• A Senior IAS Officer Cites ‘Love Jihad’ Against A
Youth For Marrying His Daughter, Dr Harsha Bharti Sarangi
• Varanasi: Tensions High As Videography Inside Gyanvapi
Mosque Begins Today; Management Warns Of Protests
• Muslims of Shirdi okay with temple loudspeaker
• Using Loudspeakers in Mosques Not Fundamental Right:
Allahabad HC Dismisses Plea to Play Azan
• Haryana: Muslim Man Allegedly Beaten Up, Abducted by
Cow Vigilantes Gets Arrested
• 4 terror suspects linked to Pak held in Karnal, arms
recovered
--------
Europe
• Experts, Families Say Sweden's Social System
Mistreats Muslim Children
• Turkish, French presidents discuss war in Ukraine,
bilateral ties
• UK should ‘feel deeply ashamed’ over abandoned
Afghans: British general
• UK aid cuts will close down hundreds more Syrian
schools: Charity
--------
North America
• US to work with Pakistan on border security,
counterterrorism
• U.S. Congress Probes Biden Admin over Biometric Data
Left in Afghanistan
• US lawmakers signal openness to selling Turkiye
F-16s: report
• PKK working with Iran-backed militias against
Turkiye: Pentagon
--------
South Asia
• Bangladesh Detains 450 Rohingya Celebrating Eid on
Beach
• Uzbekistan to Cooperate With the Taliban But
Recognize Them Only in Concert With the International Community
• Muslim Man Arrested For Church Attack In Bangladesh
• Bangladesh Marks Doppa Day In Protest Against
Persecution Of Uyghur Muslims By Chinese Govt
• Juilliard School of Music and Dance Will Bestow an
Honorary Doctorate to an Afghan Music Educator Who Escaped the Taliban
--------
Arab World
• Saudi Arabia’s Economy To Exceed $1 Trillion For
First Time In History: IMF Estimate
• Arab Coalition transports 40 Houthi prisoners to
Yemen in humanitarian initiative
• Kurdish official says 10,000 fled northern Iraq
fighting
• Iraq sandstorm sends more than 1,000 to hospital
• Landmine planted by PKK terrorists kills Danish
cyclist in northern Iraq
• Iraqi army fights PKK problem in northern Iraq’s
Sinjar region
--------
Pakistan
• After Imran Khan's Exit Pakistan Goes Back To Its
Default Position-Mends Fences With Saudi Arabia
• Cases of Madina incident should not be lodged in
Pakistan: Khursheed
• KP, Sindh, Balochistan ‘reeling from food
insecurity’
• Zardari sure allies will form govts in Balochistan,
KPK soon
• Governor calls on army to help end crisis in Punjab
--------
Southeast Asia
• Chinese National Sun Sicong Admits To Posting
Anti-Islam Remarks Online With The Intention Of Wounding The Religious Feelings
• Anwar-Najib debate on next Thursday night at Matic
KL, show to be ‘live’
• Let Parliament’s term end before calling GE15, says
Hadi
--------
Mideast
• Iran Asks Int'l Community To Fight Against
Islamophobia
• Turkey ‘destroyed’ EU hopes by jailing Erdogan
critic: MEPs
• Israel’s top court paves way for razing eight Palestinian
hamlets
• Iranian President Calls for Unity among Muslims to
Defend Palestinian Cause
• Official: UN Special Rapporteur's Visit Aimed at
Reviewing Dire Impacts of Sanctions on Iran
• New Pakistani PM Underlines Determination to
Strengthen Ties with Iran
• Iran Dispatches Humanitarian Aid to Afghan People
• Three people killed in attack in central Israel
-------
Africa
• Tunisia's Ex-President Warns Against Fighting Among
Tunisians
• Al-Shabaab Terrorists Attack Ethiopian Troops In
Somalia
• Jordan central bank raises interest rates
• Turkiye aims to further deepen its ties with
continental Africa: Foreign minister
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL:
--------
Dalit Man, Nagaraju, Killed By His Muslim In-Laws For
Honour In Hyderabad
Syed Ashrin Sulthana,
valiantly fought off his attackers, in a horrific killing in public caught on
camera Wednesday evening.
---
Ashish Pandey
Hyderabad
May 6, 2022
Nagaraju, a 25-year-old Dalit man, died while pleading
for mercy from the unknown assailants who relentlessly thrashed and murdered
him on a busy Hyderabad street on Wednesday. The murder is suspected to be a
case of honour killing.
Nagaraju's wife, Syed Ashrin Sultana (aka Pallavi),
who was present at the time of the incident, said, "They [assailants]
repeatedly hit my husband on his head...Mere husband bole Mat Maaro, Please
Mujhe Mat Maro, Kyun Maar Rahe Ho Mujhe. Last Vo Baat Ek Hi Bole. [My husband
said, 'don't beat me, please don't beat me, why are you beating me'. These were
my husband's last words]," Sultana said.
What Happened On That Day
Nagaraju and his wife, Syed Ashrin Sultana, got
married two months ago despite opposition from the latter’s family, as they
belonged to different communities.
Nagaraju was murdered near Hyderabad’s Saroornagar
area late Wednesday. He was confronted by his attackers when he was travelling
on a two-wheeler with his wife.
The attackers, who came on a scooter, stopped the
couple on the road and attacked the man in full public view with an iron rod
before stabbing him with a knife, killing him on the spot, police said.
Wife Accuses Her Brother Of Murder
In an exclusive interview with India Today TV, Syed
Ashrin Sultana accused her brother and his friends of murdering her husband in
Hyderabad.
"I saw my brother's face when I was pushing back
the attackers. In the camera as well, his face is clearly visible,"
Sultana said. She said the assailants didn't attack her but just brushed her
away when she came to save her husband.
Meanwhile, police were quoted by news agency ANI as
saying, "Last night around 8.40 pm, a boy was killed in the Saroornagar
area. The boy who was murdered had done an interfaith marriage. The girl's
brother didn't like his sister marrying a person of another faith. They
thrashed him with rod and knife, which led to his death."
Attack Caught On Camera
The entire incident was captured on a CCTV camera
installed nearby. Later, a video shot by bystanders also emerged that showed
Nagaraju being attacked by three to four people.
As the assailant thrashed Nagaraju, the latter fell on
the ground. A woman in a salwar suit, presumably his wife, then tried to fight
off the assailant. However, she was roughly pushed away by one of the
attackers.
Despite falling hard on the ground, she got up and
rushed towards the attacker, who was again hacking Nagaraju. The woman and the
assailant grapple, and she was left weeping and begging the man to spare them.
Police arrested two accused in the case. "We've
arrested both the accused. We will produce them before the court," ACP LB
Nagar P Sreedhar Reddy was quote as saying.
"The family is alleging the involvement of more
people, we are investigating it and accordingly action will be taken,"
police said.
He Said Will Live And Die With You: Sultana
Sultana said her husband told her that he would 'live
and die' with her and was 'ready to die' when she warned him that her brothers
were aggressive and something could happen if they got married.
"From months before our wedding, I tried to
convince him to get married to someone else as I did not want any threat to his
life because of me. Later, when my family got to know about us, they had threatened
to kill him when he was at work," Sultana said.
She also lamented that nobody came to the rescue of
her husband even as she begged for help. She said, "The attack continued
for 15-20 minutes, but nobody helped...Had the onlookers helped, my husband would
have been alive today. It's not only about us, people should come to help
whenever such a crime takes place anywhere in the world."
Source: India Today
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
--------
A
Senior IAS Officer Cites ‘Love Jihad’ Against A Youth For Marrying His
Daughter, Dr Harsha Bharti Sarangi
Image
used for representational purpose only.
-----
06th
May 2022
By
Namita Bajpai Express News Service
LUCKNOW: Claiming it to be a case of ‘love Jihad,’ a
senior IAS officer has got an FIR lodged against a youth for marrying his
daughter. The officer, K Sarangi, posted in New Delhi, has got the case
registered in Ghaziabad.
The
officer alleged in his complaint that the youth Abdul Rehman, a resident of
Mawana in Meerut, had trapped his daughter, Dr Harsha Bharti Sarangi, under a
conspiracy in 2017 and had now tied a nuptial knot with her fraudulently.
Ghaziabad
SP Muniraj G confirmed lodging the FIR against Abdul Rehman under Section 420
of the IPC on the basis of the complaint given by the girl’s father. The SP,
however, claimed that both Rehman and Dr Sarangi had been living together since
2018. At present the couple is living in Noida.
Notably,
in UP, the Yogi Adityanath government had made a law against conversion post
marriage in its first tenure. In his complaint, the IAS officer reportedly
accused Rehman of trying to burn his daughter’s face with acid and compel her
for conversion. He also claimed in the complaint that to escape any action
against the existing law against forced religious conversion, Rehman married
his daughter in an Arya Samaj temple and secured a marriage certificate.
On
the basis of the complaint given by the IAS officer, the Ghaziabad district
police have lodged a case against the Muslim youth, Ghaziabad office bearers of
Vedic Hindu Sabha and the Arya Samaj temple trust, and others. The officer also
mentioned that his daughter returned after completing MBBS from Ukraine in
2016. Since then, Rehman had been stalking her.
Source:
New Indian Express
Please
click the following URL to read the text of the original story:
--------
Illegal
Pakistani Migrants In European Countries Fomenting Extremism, Security
Challenges
Representative
Image. (Photo Credit - Reuters)
-----
5
May, 2022
Ljubljana
[Slovenia], May 5 (ANI): Illegal Pakistani migrants creating chaos in European
countries by fomenting extremism and security challenges in the host countries.
Valerio
Fabbri, writing in Portal Plus said that apart from acting as agents of
extremism, a large section of illegal Pakistani immigrants pose a serious
burden on the capacity of law-enforcement agencies of host countries.
Local
law and order incidents involving Pakistanis are reported from different
countries almost every month. On April 25, 2022, two groups of Pakistanis based
in Phaistos, a municipality of southern Crete, clashed violently.
Another
incident of a fight between two groups of Pakistani citizens occurred in
Marathon, near Athens, during a friendly game on April 24th, 2022.
In
October 2020, France MEP Dominique Bilde called Pakistan a serious security
threat for the sale of European Union passports and visas to criminals. Her
comments came in the wake of the September 2020 Paris attack outside Charlie
Hebdo’s former offices. The attacker was a citizen of Pakistan, who entered
France illegally and acquired citizenship by falsifying his documents.
According
to some estimates by Pakistani authorities, close to 40,000 Pakistani citizens
attempt illegal passage to Europe via Iran and Turkey every year, although the
actual number is expected to be higher.
Many
of them find shelter and protection from religious groups like Tablighi Jammat,
which runs several thousand mosques across Europe. Over the years, the group has
attained a significant headcount and is now proving to be an instrumental force
behind rising extremism in Europe, said Fabbri.
After
settling the livelihood question in European countries, Pakistani migrants
focus on deepening religious roots in their neighbourhoods. Establishing
illegal mosques to promote their version of Islam is one of their preferred
tools towards this objective, and not only in major European countries.
A
new Pakistani mosque named Gulzar-e-Madina was inaugurated on April 19, 2022,
in Megara near Athens. More than 100 Pakistanis attended the event presided by
Faizul Hasan Qadri, the Grand Imam of Birmingham, reported Portal Plus.
The
unregulated rise in the number of such mosques has the potential of spreading
extremist forms of Islam throughout Europe. The problem has been identified by
various Western agencies in the past, but Pakistanis keep on devising ways to
get around regulations on the issue.
During
the last decade, various European countries came out with measures to prevent
the rising wave of extremism. Several of them have banned wearing religious
symbols or religious clothing, either completely or in certain circumstances.
For
example, France in 2011 outlawed full-face coverings, preventing Muslim women
from being able to wear the burqa or niqab in public. And in 2010 several
cities in Catalonia banned the burqa and niqab, as well as face-covering veils,
in public buildings.
According
to Pakistani sources, more than 6000 Pakistanis have been deported from Greece
since 2015. Realising the grave security threat these immigrants pose to their
neighbourhoods, European countries have begun actively pursuing their
deportations, reported Portal Plus. (ANI)
Source:
The Print
Please
click the following URL to read the text of the original story:
--------
Mayoral Candidate
Lopez Vows To Reverse Chicago’s Anti-Arab And Anti-Muslim Policies
Ray
Hanania
May
05, 2022
CHICAGO:
Mayoral candidate Raymond Lopez Wednesday denounced Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s
targeting of the Arab and Muslim community as “disgusting and tasteless,” and
vowed to launch a probe into her actions which has cost hundreds of job losses
and millions in income and tax revenue.
Lopez
added that his administration would restore the community’s festivals and
cultural presence in America’s second largest city.
Last
June, a task force of inspectors and police forcibly closed more than 150 Arab-
and Muslim-owned businesses in what critics called a misguided effort by
Lightfoot to crack down on street-gang violence. Because most of the stores are
open 24 hours a day, street-gang members would often run into them in the
middle of the night to escape police when violence took place.
Lopez,
the only Hispanic who has announced his candidacy in the February 28, 2023
Chicago election, made these comments during a live radio interview on “The Ray
Hanania Show” which broadcasts live on the US Arab Radio Network and is
sponsored by Arab News.
“I
am absolutely a friend to the Arab community not just in word but in action and
I will continue to be that friend,” Lopez said, adding he would work with Arab
Americans to bring back the Arabesque Festival which was closed by former Mayor
Rahm Israel Emanuel in 2011, and was sure Lightfoot’s discriminatory policies
would also end.
“That
just shows how tone deaf and clueless Lori Lightfoot is in addressing the
number-one issue in the city of Chicago which is the out-of-control crime and
violence that we see, and to blame the owners of gas stations and stores simply
because that’s where the crime ended up at, in their parking lots or next to
them in their sidewalks. That was a complete miscalculation on her part. I
think personally she felt the Arab community would be an easy community to
target in the Black community because she was just fueling the fires that exist
with the animosity that is in some neighborhoods.”
Chicago
has seen a surge in street-gang gun-related homicides during Lightfoot’s three
years in office and the mayor has been unable to stop the rise.
Lopez
joined Arab businesses last September to denounce the mayor’s actions, forcing
her to reopen all the stores the following day after many were closed for more
than three months.
“All
the violations, the complaints and questions vanished overnight,” Lopez
observed, after the Arab community held a press conference to expose her
actions.
“We
know the Arab community is just as integral as any immigrant community. This
week we are celebrating the Polish community, my Mexican community … we did the
Irish community in March. We are all part of the fabric. And to just pull on
one thread and say they are the problem is disgusting and tasteless to say the
least.”
Lopez
also promised to work with the Arab and Muslim community to restore the annual
Chicago Arab festival, Arabesque, which was shut down by Lightfoot’s
predecessor Emanuel in one of his first official acts after becoming mayor in
2011.
Emanuel
then proceeded to close the Chicago Arab Advisory Commission and excluded Arabs
from his administration. Lightfoot had promised to work with Arab Americans
during her campaign to succeed Emanuel, but did nothing when she was elected
mayor in May 2019.
“We
know that the Arab community and the Arab voter is oftentimes taken for
granted. I for one grew up with Arabs in my neighborhood ... We came up together
in high school. I am no stranger to the Arab community. And I look forward to
when we can have the Arab festival again and we can celebrate, which is what I
believe … is the quintessential Chicago nature, to celebrate our ethnic
diversity to invite all communities to taste our food, hear our music and enjoy
our good company,” Lopez said.
“And
there is no reason that the Arab community can’t be the same part of that
tradition as the Mexican community, the Chinese community that (have) their
festivals … the Korean community and so on and so forth like so many
communities throughout the city. We need to get back to celebrating our
diversity because truly that is the one thing that we all have in common. We
are all from everywhere. There is no reason to discriminate and pick sides. We
can live under one roof and enjoy each other, and we will do that again soon.”
Lopez
said “there should be a place for everyone at the city government table” and
they should feel welcome as is the case now in Chicago.
“And
the millions of dollars that you know that those closures cost not only the
city of Chicago but (also) the small business owners who were impacted, and for
no reason other than (to) try to find something wrong, try to find something to
write a ticket on, try to find something to justify this action. Government
should not be in the business of victimizing people just to create a
narrative,” Lopez said.
Lopez
acknowledged the closures cost the city of Chicago millions of dollars in lost
tax revenues for gasoline and sales. It also resulted in the layoff of hundreds
of employees who worked at the Arab-owned stores.
Hassan
Nijem of the American Arab Chamber of Commerce said that many of the Arab-owned
gas station owners lost on average $70,000 a month in revenues. Many of the
stores were closed for two to three months and have never been reimbursed by
the city for the lost income.
Lopez
said he would join other aldermen including Gilbert Villegas and Silvana
Tabares in conducting a public forum on Monday, May 9, at Chicago’s Islamic
Community Center of Illinois to probe Lightfoot’s actions against Arab and
Muslim business owners.
He
also said the Chicagoland news media needs to do a better job scrutinizing
Lightfoot’s actions including against minority groups like Arab Americans.
Lightfoot
has declined requests for interviews from Arab News.
The
Ray Hanania Radio Show is broadcast on the US Arab Radio Network and sponsored
by Arab News live every Wednesday at 5 p.m. EST in Detroit on WNZK AM 690, in
Washington D.C. on WDMV AM 700. It is rebroadcast on Thursdays at 12 noon in
Chicago on WNWI AM 1080.
Source:
Arab News
Please
click the following URL to read the text of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2076226/world
--------
Extreme
Hunger ‘Grips’ Afghanistan, Taliban Accountable: Reports
(HornbillTV/ANI): Afghanistan has been grappling
with an acute food crisis, with over 22 million people, or more suffering from
severe hunger.
-----
6
May, 2022
Kabul
[Afghanistan], May 6 (ANI): Afghanistan has been grappling with an acute food
crisis, with over 22 million people, or more than half of the country’s
population suffering from severe hunger and the majority unable to anticipate
when their next meal will arrive, according to the United Nations.
More
than 97 per cent of Afghans are affected by food shortages, the United Nations
said, according to a report in Khaama Press
This
represents a considerable increase from September 2020, when over 14 million
people were on the brink of starvation.
Living
costs and food prices have skyrocketed since the Taliban took control of the Afghan
land in August last year, and the Afghan newspaper report cited World Bank
findings saying that incomes are likely to have fallen by around a third since
the capture of power.
In
March 2022, the United Nations World Food Programme in Afghanistan provided
financial and food aid to 376,139 people in Kabul, with the latest figures for
those helped during Eid still being recorded, Khaama Press reported.
Analysts
pointed out that for most Afghans, Eid-Ul-Fitr was just another day of struggle
to feed their families as Muslims throughout the world celebrated Eid-Ul-Fitr.
The
Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan-controlled government has been cut off from the
international economy since the fall of Kabul in August and the withdrawal of
American soldiers, leading to a financial crisis, severe poverty, and the loss
of essential public services including health care. (ANI)
Source:
The Print
Please
click the following URL to read the text of the original story:
https://theprint.in/world/extreme-hunger-grips-afghanistan-taliban-accountable-reports/944816/
--------
India
Varanasi: Tensions high as videography inside Gyanvapi mosque begins today;
management warns of protests
May
06, 2022
Videography-survey
and inspection of the Maa Shringar Gauri Sthal at Varanasi's Kashi
Vishwanath-Gyanvapi complex begins from Friday. A team of lawyers appointed by
a court will be at work, however, there is a possibility that the issue may
take a sensitive turn as Gyanvapi mosque management committee - Anjuman
Intejamiya Masjid - has decided to oppose the decision of the judicial body.
"We
will not allow anyone's entry in the (Gyanvapi) mosque premises for videography
and survey," SM Yasin, Anjuman Intejamiya Masjid Managing Committee, said
last week. He added that they (committee) were ready to face consequences.
Meanwhile,
several reports have mentioned the Muslim side saying that the videography
should be restricted to the premises of Kashi Vishwanath temple, and no
"non-believer" will be allowed to enter the mosque.
On
the directives of the court, the videography is to be done on Friday and
Saturday (6 and 7 May) under the supervision of Advocate commissioner Ajai
Kumar.
The
district administration has been reaching out to the Intejamiya committee,
trying to convince them as fear of a volatile situation prevails as the
videography inspection starts around 3 pm amid continued resistance. The
committee, however, assured that they will oppose the survey in a
"peaceful manner".
A
report in Hindustan Times said Akhil Bharatiya Sant Samiti general secretary
Swami Jeetendranand Saraswati has demanded security to be heightened to ensure
that there is no interruption in the survey of Maa Shringar Gauri Sthal. He
also demanded for action against SM Yasin for his allegedly
"provocative" remarks in the matter.
On
26 April, hearing the Shringar Gauri worship case, the court of Civil Judge
(Senior Division) of Varanasi, Ravi Kumar Diwakar, had ordered videography by
the advocate commissioner of the Shringar Gauri temple in the Kashi
Vishwanath-Gyanvapi mosque complex and other places.
The
court had asked the inspection to take place after Eid and before 10 May, 2022.
It had also stated that apart from the advocate commissioner and parties, one
associate can remain present during the proceedings.
According
to a report by The Times of India, the court had asked the advocate
commissioner to visit the Shringar Gauri site in the presence of both the
parties. The team has been asked to prepare a report of the status and submit
it before the court on 10 May, the next date of hearing.
The
court has also asked the advocate commissioner to ensure videography of his
inspection and seek assistance of the police force if need arises.
Source:
Firstpost
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Muslims
of Shirdi okay with temple loudspeaker
06th
May 2022
By
Sudhir SuryawanshiExpress News Service
MUMBAI: At a time Maharashtra is riddled in intense
politicking over the use of sound systems at places of worship, the Muslim
community in Shirdi has agreed to bring down loudspeakers at mosques while
maintaining that it had no issues with the Sai Baba shrine on the rule.
The
Jama Masjid Trust has written to the police saying it has no objection to the
prayers relayed through loudspeakers at the Shirdi temple. “We have no problem
with the morning and evening prayers at Sai Baba temple. We will follow the
Supreme Court directives and not use the loudspeakers. We have no differences
with anyone. We have been living here together for years. We believe in unity
and diversity. Our community participates in Hindu festivals,” said a Muslim
community leader.
Source:
New Indian Express
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Using
Loudspeakers in Mosques Not Fundamental Right: Allahabad HC Dismisses Plea to
Play Azan
MAY
06, 2022
The
Allahabad High Court dismissed a petition that sought installation of
loudspeakers in mosques saying that it is not a fundamental right. A bench of
Justice Vivek Kumar Birla and Justice Vikas Budhwar said, “The law says that it
is not a constitutional right to use loudspeakers in mosques,” while dealing
with a writ plea filed by a man named Irfan.
The
petitioner moved HC after the Bisauli Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) of Badaun
district on December 3, 2021 rejected his application seeking permission for
playing loudspeaker/mike in a village Mosque at the time of azan, a LiveLaw
report said.
Before
approaching the court, he sought permission from government authorities for
playing loudspeaker/mike in the mosque (Noori Masjid). He also argued that the
order passed by the SDM was wholly illegal and violated his fundamental and
legal rights to run loudspeakers from the mosque.
However,
the bench said, “The law has now been settled that use of loudspeaker from
mosque is not a fundamental right. Ever otherwise a cogent reason has been
assigned in the impugned order. Accordingly, we find that the present petition
is patently misconceived, hence the same is dismissed.”
Incidentally,
earlier this year, the Allahabad HC had dismissed a contempt plea filed
regarding the usage of loudspeakers in temples as well as mosques and observed
that the same is a sponsored litigation so as to affect the communal harmony of
the State keeping in mind the state elections.
The
controversy over the use of loudspeakers at religious places sparked across
several states, including Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.
Source:
News18
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Haryana:
Muslim Man Allegedly Beaten Up, Abducted by Cow Vigilantes Gets Arrested
May
6, 2022
New
Delhi: A Muslim man was allegedly beaten up and abducted by cow vigilantes on
April 23 in Sheikhpur village of Haryana’s Nuh district.
In
a video that went viral, the man is seen being beaten up by a group of men, who
are holding pistols. According to The Quint, the villagers said that they were
chanting slogans of ‘Jai Shri Ram’.
The
report further said that local Bajrang Dal members were allegedly involved in
the abduction.
Mohammad
Shokeen (38), a daily wage labourer from the village in Firozpur Jhirka tehsil,
told the news outlet that Sahib Hussain (26), who had gone to the field that
morning, ran when he saw the vigilantes. When they fired two shots in the air,
he fell to the ground and was roughed up and hit in the head with a pistol butt
by them.
“They
were here to create communal tensions in Mewat and instil fear in the hearts of
people,” Shokeen said.
A
65-year-old gardener from the area told The Quint: “My elder son and I were
tending to the plants when we saw them dragging Sahib. My son asked them not to
beat him. They said they’d beat my son if he didn’t stay back. We couldn’t do
anything to stop them. They were 20-25 men and had pistols. They took him
away.”
Raqmuddin
(25), who runs a dairy business, had come to pick up his delivery of milk. When
he saw the cow vigilantes, he started filming the incident. However, one of the
men seized his phone and then smashed it.
On
the evening of April 23, the Nuh Police booked Hussain under Sections 13(1) and
13(3) of the Haryana Gauvansh Sanrakshan and Gausamvardhan Act, 2015 – which
deal with cow slaughter – and arrested him, the report said.
Also
read: Delhi Man Lynched on Suspicion of Cow Slaughter, 2 Others Injured
Two
videos of the same incident went viral on social media. The first video,
captioned “Gau Raksha Dal, Mewat Road, Haryana”, showed someone pointing a gun
barrel towards women and children. In the second video, a man who can barely
walk is being dragged by a group of Hindutva workers at gun-point. The caption
reads, “Taking away the cow-smuggler.” The man in the video is then forcefully
loaded into a white Scorpio car from Haryana which is registered in the name of
‘Development & Panchayat’.
After
the videos went viral, a first information report (FIR) was on April 27
registered against “three to four unidentified persons” under Sections 286
(negligent conduct with respect to fire or combustible matter), 294 (obscene
acts and songs), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 342 (punishment
for wrongful confinement) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the
Indian Penal Code, and some sections of the Arms Act, 1959.
Similar
incidents were reported in two other villages – Basai Meo and Rawli – where the
cow vigilantes fired two to three rounds in the air and chanted ‘Jai Shri Ram’.
In Rawli, the cow vigilantes abducted two brothers – Hakmuddin and Raees – from
their house and field, respectively. However, in Basai Meo, no one was
“kidnapped” from the village.
Aas
Muhammad (50), Hakmuddin and Raees’ brother, told The Quint, “They hit my
brothers and abused and threatened anyone who tried to intervene. My brothers
have never taken part in illegal activities. They are not cow smugglers. One is
a labourer and the other one works as a porter in the tehsil. The police came
more than an hour after they were taken away by the vigilantes.”
The
police booked them under various sections related to cow smuggling and were
lodged in District Jail, Gurugram.
Source:
The Wire
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
4
terror suspects linked to Pak held in Karnal, arms recovered
May
6, 2022
KARNAL/CHANDIGARH:
Four Punjab-based terror suspects on way to Adilabad in Telangana to deliver a
consignment of explosives in an Innova car with Delhi registration were
arrested at Bastara toll plaza in Haryana’s Karnal district on Thursday
morning.
Police
have seized three improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in a metallic case (2.5kg
each), a Pakistan-made pistol, 31 live cartridges and Rs 1.3 lakh in cash from
them.
Those
arrested have been identified as Gurpreet Singh, Amandeep Singh, Parminder
Singh (all residents of Vinjoke village of Zira in Ferozepur district of
Punjab) and Bhupinder Singh of Bhatian village in Ludhiana.
Punjab
DGP VK Bhawra claimed on Thursday that the state police, acting on inputs from
the central intelligence agencies, averted a possible terrorist attack by
giving a hot chase of over 300km and getting four suspects arrested in Karnal.
They were arrested by Haryana Police following inputs from Punjab Police, he
added.
Karnal
superintendent of police Ganga Ram Punia said the suspects were in touch with a
Pakistan-based gangster-turned-terrorist, Harvinder Singh Rinda, who used to
send locations through an app to them to deliver explosives and weapons. Rinda
used to drop weapons and explosives at pre-designated locations in the fields
in Ferozepur with the help of drones.
Source:
Times Of India
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Europe
Experts,
families say Sweden's social system mistreats Muslim children
Laila
Nezirevic
05.05.2022
STOCKHOLM
Following
several months of protests by Muslim families who claim their children are
being “kidnapped” by Swedish authorities, one of the founders of the Nordic
Committee for Human Rights is putting a harsh spotlight on Swedish social
services.
Siv
Westerberg, Founder of the Nordic Committee for Human Rights
“They
are kidnapping Muslim children, that’s what I mean. They don't accept that they
have other ways to live,” said Siv Westerberg, an internationally recognized
lawyer who won eight cases at the European Court of Human Rights against
Swedish social services.
A
country proud of its social engineering established the Swedish Care of Young
Persons (Special Provisions) Act (LVU) in 1990, which gives authority to social
service workers to remove children forcibly from their parents.
Without
or even before they get the Swedish Administrative Court’s support, social
agencies have the right to send their staff, assisted by the police, and take
children from their homes or directly from school without their parents’
knowledge.
Children
are taken far from home directly to a secret investigation home, foster home,
or a Home for Care and Custody (HVB).
The
impunity enjoyed by Swedish social services has led to countless violations of
the LVU, which gives legal grounds for forced child removal.
Lena
Hellblom Sjogren, a well-known Swedish forensic psychologist who has investigated
alleged sexual abuse and children’s suffering, said she believes that those
judging in the social care cases lack reliable tools for the work that they are
doing and that “their obligation according to the Swedish fundamental law to be
impartial and to be a matter of fact oriented is violated in every case.”
Halima
Marrie came to Sweden from the African country of Gambia with her husband
Almamo Jarju and children, but after just a few months, her 6-year-old daughter
was taken by social services.
Marrie
claimed that from the very beginning, the school manipulated her daughter by
telling her that “they will find a better home for her as we are likely to beat
her."
The
young girl was moved to five different homes from when she was 6 to 7 years old
due to “sexual abuse by the foster families,” said the girl’s father Almamo.
Almamo
said he suspects that his daughter, now 15, “is still a victim of sexual abuse
in her current foster home and the social services are not doing anything about
it.”
Halima
and Almamo last saw their daughter “three years ago, when she was 12, as social
services stopped any contact between us and we have no idea where she is,”
Halima asserted.
Almamo
believes that his family is a victim of racism and that the only reason why his
daughter was taken away from them is “because we are Muslims.”
Westerberg,
who is also a former medical doctor, believes that "if you are an
immigrant family in Sweden, there is a larger possibility that social
authorities will take your child away from you.”
Asked
about the protests by the Muslim families, she replied: “I mean that they are
kidnapping Muslim children, and those social workers find it a lot more
interesting to go and kidnap Muslim children than to sit around the whole day
taking care of Swedish alcoholics and giving them money and clothes.“
Swedish
authorities denied allegations of kidnapping by the protesters, branding a
conversation on Twitter “a disinformation campaign,” adding that social
services “always put the safety and well-being of the child first.”
Lena
Hellblom Sjogren, author of the book Barnets Ratt Till Familjeliv (The Child’s
Right to Family Life), argues that the Swedish system is not fair to the child
because “the child’s rights -- the human rights and legal rights and the
child’s needs -- are violated, and if you don’t have a very sound investigation
that the child needs to be protected, then you can take that last step to move
away a child from his or her family, but not before that.”
The
well-established Persons Act LVU/ HVB-system is thought to turnover billions of
dollars per year, which is believed to be 2% of the Swedish state budget.
"It
is a big business (in Sweden) taking away children from their mothers. It is a
very big business in Sweden,” said Westerberg.
She
pointed out that foster homes are given too much money by the social services
and that “if you get a foster child in your home, you will get 25,000 (Swedish
krona) (roughly $2,522) a month, and you must not pay any tax for that.”
“So
lots of people who are psychopaths who don't have any feelings for children
they take let's say two or three foster children and have an income that very
few people in Sweden have.
“You
can have a luxury life if you have two or three children,” Westerberg added.
Hellblom
Sjogren agreed and thinks that “it is quite wrong that there are companies
earning money from taking children in their homes. I think that it should be a
last resort, and then you should recruit adults who love children, not adults
who are in need of earning money.”
Swedish
law states that children should be placed first with someone from their family
system, but according to Sjogren: “This law is not followed, and that goes with
many laws in Sweden. It looks very good on the paper, but in practice, it
doesn’t. They don’t follow the law.”
Pratima
Singh and her husband David McLean-Treat are a married Indian-American couple
whose son Richard was taken away by social services when he was nine.
“They
came with police, and social services came and took him, and they place him
outside of Stockholm,” said McLean-Treat.
“Well
for 10 years then we did nothing but take this up with them and take it to the
courts for 10 years until he was 18 years old.
“We
missed him. We wanted him home with us,” he added.
David
and Pratima did not succeed in getting their son back.
When
Richard was 18 years old, he was placed in a rehab center by social services.
“So
he had gotten into bad company and was experimenting with drugs. So when he was
18, then instead of just letting him go because LVU is finished when children
are 18 years old, they put him into a program for those who have problems with
drugs or alcohol.
“We
will never forgive and forget what they’ve done to our lives.
“They
are only doing this to make money. That’s all,” he added.
Sweden’s
social services are a powerful institution in the country, so much so that even
in the rare case that a Swedish court sides with the family and rules against
social services’ decision to take the child away, under the current law, the
services can override the ruling and refuse to give the child back to their
parents.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Turkish,
French presidents discuss war in Ukraine, bilateral ties
Burak
Bir
05.05.2022
Turkish
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday held a phone call with his French
counterpart Emmanuel Macron, and discussed Russia's war on Ukraine, regional
developments as well as bilateral ties, Turkiye's Communications Directorate
said in a statement.
Turkiye-France
relations are "of great importance" the Turkish president said,
adding that Ankara continues its efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war through
diplomacy.
NATO
ally Turkiye enjoys good ties with both Ukraine and Russia and has offered to
host peace talks at the leaders’ level for a permanent cease-fire.
Delegation-level talks, which saw meaningful progress, were held in Istanbul on
March 29.
Erdogan
said it is important to support the negotiation process between Kyiv and
Moscow.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
UK
should ‘feel deeply ashamed’ over abandoned Afghans: British general
05,
2022
LONDON:
A British general who served in Afghanistan has condemned the UK government for
abandoning Afghans who worked with NATO in the country, saying the UK should
“feel deeply ashamed.”
Hundreds
of Afghans who worked with allied forces over the course of the 20-year war,
and are eligible to come to the UK, remain in hiding following the
reinstatement of Taliban rule after last year’s withdrawal of Western troops.
Gen.
John McColl told the BBC he wanted to tell Prime Minister Boris Johnson
directly: “We made a commitment to look after these people, you made a
commitment.
“You
are not delivering on that commitment, so put a system in place that does
deliver on it. It is an appalling situation; delays have been going on over
nine months as there is no system adequate to deal with the number and
complexity of the applications.
“These
delays are inexcusable and there is absolutely no reason why the government
does not have this in place.”
Hundreds
of thousands of people fled Afghanistan after the Taliban retook power last
year, but with the Home Office having said it would provide up to 20,000
Afghans safe routes to resettle in the UK, the Ministry of Defence said just
9,000 people and their dependents had so far been relocated.
Gen.
McColl urged the Defence Select Committee to investigate the Afghan Relocations
and Assistant Policy scheme, sating it is not fit for purpose.
Source:
Arab News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2076141/world
--------
UK
aid cuts will close down hundreds more Syrian schools: Charity
May
05, 2022
LONDON:
British aid cuts will lead to the closure of hundreds more Syrian schools, with
40,000 children already having fallen out of education as a result of the move,
a leading charity has warned.
UK
funding for 133 schools run by Syria Relief ended on April 30 as the government
“rushed” through a £4.2 billion ($5.3 billion) cut in foreign aid spending that
slashed Britain’s total commitment from 0.7 to 0.5 percent of gross national
income.
“If
funds are not found the plug the gap, a generation of children in northern
Syria will be out of school,” Jessica Adams, head of communications for the
charity, told The Guardian.
“This
will lead to a close-to-immediate rise in child labour, child marriage, early
pregnancies, child conscription to military and armed groups, and child
exploitation and trafficking.
“This
was a political choice we, children, parents and teachers hope desperately will
be reversed.”
Syria
Relief had been the largest non-government provider of schools in the country,
at one point operating 306 schools.
But
donors have reduced their spend or shifted their focus to Ukraine, leaving the
charity with just 24 remaining schools supporting 3,600 children.
UK
cuts hit Syria hard, removing 69 percent of aid, which the charity said would
push more girls into early marriages rather than Britain’s “stated goal” of
helping them into school.
Abu
Halid, whose children are at school in Mahmoodli displacement camp in northern
Syria, told The Guardian: “If this school closes, we’ll have to send them to
schools that ask for money, but we don’t have money, not even for rent, so we
need the school to stay open.”
Syria
Relief said camp schools are overcrowded, lack electricity or heating, and
already-high rates of child labor and early marriages will increase with more
school closures.
Joyce
Msuya, assistant secretary-general for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs, told the Security Council last week that an estimated 14.6 million
Syrians are in need of humanitarian aid, with 2.4 million children out of
school in the country.
Source:
Arab News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2076051/world
--------
North America
US
to work with Pakistan on border security, counterterrorism
Anwar
Iqbal
May
6, 2022
WASHINGTON:
Counterterrorism and border security are the two areas where the United States
wants to continue to work with Pakistan, says the US State Department.
Responding
to a question about restoring US security assistance to Pakistan, the
department’s spokesperson Ned Price said at a Wednesday news briefing that
Washington wanted to continue its cooperation with Islamabad in some areas.
“We
value our bilateral relationship. We want to continue to work together in areas
where we do have mutual interests with our Pakistani partners,” he said. “That
includes counterterrorism. That includes border security as well.”
Commenting
on the observation that the situation in Afghanistan had increased terrorist
attacks in Pakistan as well, Mr Price mentioned last month’s attack at Karachi
University that killed three Chinese and a Pakistani.
“Well,
at the time, we strongly condemned the terrorist attack against Karachi
University,” he said. “We reiterate that condemnation today.”
Mr
Price said that a terrorist attack anywhere was an affront to humanity
everywhere, “but for a terrorist attack to take place at a university, or at a
religious site … — that is a true affront to mankind”.
Another
journalist reminded him that the US Commission on International Religious
Freedom (USCIRF) recently recommended adding India to a list of regular
violators and asked if that recommendation would be implemented.
Source:
Dawn
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1688227/us-to-work-with-pakistan-on-border-security-counterterrorism
--------
U.S.
Congress Probes Biden Admin over Biometric Data Left in Afghanistan
By
Arif Ahmadi
05
May 2022
Kabul,
Afghanistan – The United States Congress probes President Biden administration
following a disclosure about biometric data abandoned during a hasty troops
withdrawal from Afghanistan, which is reported being used by the Taliban
government to target American allies still in the country, according to
reports.
United
States republican congress members believe the Islamic Emirate is using the
data to target former security forces and local Afghan allies of US and NATO
forces stranded in Afghanistan, according to a report by the Washington Free
Beacon.
While
the Ministry of Interior Affairs denied such reports on left biometric data, at
least eight republican members of the senate committee – let by Sen. Marsha
Blackburn – are demanding the State and Defense Departments to turn over any
information related to the evacuation of US troops in Afghanistan.
“The
Taliban is using this personal information to increase targeted killings,
torture, and forced disappearances of Afghans who helped the United States,”
the senators wrote, according to a copy of the letter obtained exclusively by
the Washington Free Beacon.
“These
systems, which were abandoned when the US military withdrew from Afghanistan,
contained iris scans, fingerprints, photographs, occupational data, home
addresses, and names of relatives,” the letter read.
In
addition to leaving behind $7 billion worth of military hardware, the Afghan
Ministry of Interior Affairs confirmed is has access to the “sensitive data,
including biometric data,” the United States abandoned while the country was
collapsing last August.
But
the ministry repeatedly denied reports suggesting these data are being used by
the Taliban ruler to target those who supported the United States’ 20-year war
in Afghanistan.
“We
have denied this claim many times–that the Islamic Emirate targets or threatens
the former security forces through this. We deny it,” said Abul Nafay Takor, a
spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, as TOLOnew reported.
Meanwhile,
local military veterans express concern over reports that depicts direct
threats to their lives, saying the government is responsible for protecting
secret information, as is responsible to not let such “secret” data leak
outside the country.
“The
biometric system should not be provided to the neighboring countries or
others,” said Hekmatullah Hekmat, a military veteran. “The government is
responsible for maintaining the secret and important national data.”
“This
can cause risks for the Afghanistan security system even for their (Islamic
Emirate) government because if some of the groups under their command stand
against them, they could use the data against the Taliban,” said Asadullah
Nadim, another military veteran.
The
probe against Bidon Administration comes weeks after Human Rights Watch
released a report detailing the Taliban is using abandoned biometric data to
eradicate local armies who have worked and fought alongside the United States
troops in past two decades.
String
of Bombings Prompts Questions over Peace in Afghanistan
Recent
Blasts in West Kabul Draw Backlashes at Int’l Level
Multiple
Blasts Target Shia Hazara Neighborhood in Kabul, Killing 6
Since
the takeover last August, though the Islamic Emirate government has repeatedly
claimed victory and assured peace and stability in Afghanistan, string of
bombings across multiple cities proves otherwise – suggesting a dim future that
lies ahead of roughly 40 million citizens.
The
current government has condemned recent attacks, including the ones in capital
Kabul and other central provinces, and have repeatedly pledged to counter the
group’s activities and other terrorist groups in Afghanistan.
Source:
Khaama Press
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.khaama.com/u-s-congress-probes-biden-admin-over-biometric-data-left-in-afghanistan/
--------
US
lawmakers signal openness to selling Turkiye F-16s: report
Michael
Hernandez
05.05.2022
WASHINGTON
Lawmakers
pivotal to Turkiye's purchase of dozens of F-16 fighter jets have indicated
they are receptive to the sale, according to a report published on Thursday.
The
matter has been complicated by Ankara's purchase of the advanced Russian S-400
anti-air system, which has led to an ongoing row with Washington that resulted
in sanctions and Turkiye's expulsion from the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter
program.
"Several
key lawmakers" who were instrumental in Turkiye's removal from the F-35
program told the Defense News website that they are now potentially inclined to
approval the sale of 40 F-16 fighters, and 80 kits to modernize Ankara's
existing fleet.
The
Biden administration previously signaled its approval of the sale in a leaked
letter to Congress.
“We
need to talk and work with Turkey and others that are working with us against
Russia,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Gregory Meeks, a Democrat,
told Defense News. "They’ve shown some movements in the right direction.
There’s other things that we still need to work with Turkey, certain things
that still irritate us at times."
“I’ve
talked to several of the parties involved in this,” Sen. James Risch, the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee's top Republican, told Defense News. “The
Turks have made a credible argument for why they should get the F-16s.”
“I’m
positively disposed in that direction, but I’m not completely there yet,” he
added.
The
apparent bipartisan openness to the deal comes after congress and the
administration have lauded Turkiye's diplomatic efforts with Russia, and
provision of much-needed armaments to Ukraine during Moscow's ongoing assault
on its eastern European neighbor.
“We
expect Turkey to continue standing with its NATO allies who are in lockstep in
supporting Ukraine as it defends its homeland," said the office of
congressman Mike McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs
Committee.
"We
expect that should the administration seek congressional authorization for this
sale, Turkey will still be playing a constructive role in the conflict, but
also addressing concerns over Turkey’s role in other global conflicts," it
added.
The
Turkish government made the request for the F-16s and modernization kits in
October, and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on April 8 that the
talks were "progressing positively."
House
Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith, a key Democrat, acknowledged the
"need to find some way to" restore the bilateral relationship with
Ankara.
“The
president’s probably spot on in terms of trying to balance it. It’s hard
because the S-400 complicated our relationship in many ways, but it’s not a
relationship we can walk away from," he said.
Still,
Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez, who, as the chairman of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, can block the sale, signaled a less willing take on the
F-16s.
“At
some point we have to decide is Turkey the type of NATO ally that we expect or
not,” Menendez told the news website. “It acts in ways that are contrary to our
interests in a whole host of things. I think the administration has to stop
seeing from the aspirational part of what we would like Turkey to be and
realize that Turkey is under Erdogan.”
He
was referring to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The
Biden administration has on several occasions signaled its openness to the
sale, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who said last Thursday that
foreign military sales to key US partners like Turkiye should be expedited and
bureaucratic hurdles removed.
Asked
during congressional testimony what the Biden administration can do "to
cut through the red tape to help our work with our allies such as Turkey and
India," Blinken acknowledged that the processes need to be hurried at both
the executive and congressional levels.
"I
think that we can and should do better in sales, particularly in the rapidity
with which we're able to do things, review things. I think that's on us in the
executive branch. It's also on Congress," he told the House Appropriations
Committee.
Naz
Durakoglu, the State Department's top official for legislative affairs,
acknowledged last month in a letter to congressman Frank Pallone the ongoing
tensions over additional arms sales to Turkiye but maintained that the
sanctions and Turkiye’s removal from the F-35 fighter jet program represent
"a significant price paid" for its acquisition of Russia’s S-400
missile defense system.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
PKK
working with Iran-backed militias against Turkiye: Pentagon
Michael
Hernandez
05.05.2022
WASHINGTON
The
PKK terror group is coordinating with Iran-backed militia groups against
Turkish forces in northern Iraq, according to a recently published Pentagon
analysis.
The
Lead Inspector General of the US-led anti-Daesh/ISIS coalition said in a
quarterly report published on Tuesday that Iran-backed militants have recently
"increased attacks against Turkish forces in Iraq and Syria" with the
Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) assessing "that the militias probably
will continue to coordinate with the" PKK.
"Following
Turkish airstrikes in February that targeted the PKK in northern Iraq, a new
Iran-aligned militia group conducted a rocket attack against a Turkish
expeditionary base north of Mosul," the declassified report said.
"The
DIA said the militias probably calculate that their attacks against Turkey will
deter Turkey from attacking the PKK in federal Iraq while enhancing their
public image as defenders of Iraqi sovereignty," it added.
The
PKK is a designated terrorist organization in the US, Turkiye and the EU.
Turkiye
has launched successive operations against the PKK in northern Iraq since 2020,
most recently starting Operation Claw-Lock in April to target PKK hideouts in
Iraq’s Metina region.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
South Asia
Bangladesh
Detains 450 Rohingya Celebrating Eid on Beach
MAY
05, 2022
Bangladesh
police detained 450 Rohingya celebrating a Muslim festival on a beach,
officials said on Thursday, in a further sign of growing intolerance towards
the refugees.
Bangladesh
bans the 920,000 mostly Muslim Rohingya refugees from leaving camps surrounded
by barbed wire in the southeast where they have been stuck for almost five
years.
Most
fled to Bangladesh after a military offensive in neighboring Myanmar in 2017
that the United States designated in March as genocide.
Police
spokesman Rafiqul Islam told AFP that officers detained “more than 450
Rohingya" in raids in the town of Cox’s Bazar late Wednesday on the second
day of the Eid holidays, a major Muslim festival.
Islam
said the operation was part of “security measures" in the country’s
largest resort district which attracts millions of tourists during holiday
seasons including Eid al-Fitr.
“Rohingyas
are involved in various crimes. It is unsafe for our tourists. We have
strengthened the security of the city. As tourists visit Cox’s Bazar on Eid
al-Fitr, we have stepped up patrols to keep them safe," he said.
Those
detained were set to be sent back to the camps. Several told AFP at a police
station that they went to the beach for Eid festivities.
“We
are here for fun… But as soon as we arrived, police caught us. We did not do
anything wrong, we just sat on the beach," said Mohammad Ibrahim.
“Both
my husband and I were picked up by police. My children are hungry. They haven’t
eaten all day," said a woman named Samjida, 20.
‘HEAVILY
CURBED’
With
a dialect similar to that spoken in Chittagong in southeast Bangladesh, the
Rohingya are loathed by many in Myanmar, who see them as illegal immigrants and
call them “Bengali".
They
have refused to go back until assured of security and equal rights — which
Myanmar has refused to promise — so remain stuck in bamboo-and-tarp shacks with
no work, poor sanitation and little education.
Bangladeshi
authorities have become increasingly impatient about hosting the refugees while
criticising the rest of the world for not providing more assistance.
In
recent months authorities have bulldozed about 3,000 shops and dozens of
private community-run schools in the camps.
The
camps have seen an increase in violence blamed on the Arakan Rohingya Salvation
Army, an insurgent group fighting the Myanmar military but also thought to be
behind a wave of murders and drug smuggling.
Rezaur
Rahman Lenin, a Dhaka-based activist and human rights consultant for the UN
Resident Coordinator’s Office said that the lives of the refugees are “heavily
curbed".
“Rohingya
youths have every right to pursue their happiness at the longest beach of the world
and beyond," he said.
Source:
News18
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Uzbekistan
to Cooperate With the Taliban But Recognize Them Only in Concert With the
International Community
By
Saqalain Eqbal
06
May 2022
Uzbekistan
considers the Taliban as “a reality that must be accepted,” but stresses that
it will not recognize them alone. In an event if the recognition happens,
Uzbekistan wants a “collective voice and stand”, said Ismatullah Irgashev, the
special envoy to the Uzbek President Mirziyoyev.
While
in an interview in Tashkent, he stated that his country is “working closely”
with the Taliban as Uzbekistan has “long established solid contracts” with
Afghanistan.
“Imagine
what happens if we don’t engage. … More conflict, another civil war, more
blood, poverty, suffering, threats to the neighbors and the international
community”, he added.
President
Mirziyoyev previously sent a committee to Washington to lobby for increased aid
for Afghanistan. Irgashev stated that Tashkent pushed the European Union to
recall diplomats in Kabul, and that he hoped the United States will follow
suit.
While
advocating for further cooperation with the Taliban, Irgashev stated that
Tashkent is ready to formal recognition only in agreement with the international
community.
The
development of a “inclusive” administration, preservation of women’s rights,
and efforts to ensure that Afghan land does not become a haven for terrorists
are the three prerequisites most Western nations mention for recognizing the
Taliban.
Source:
Khaama Press
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Muslim
man arrested for church attack in Bangladesh
May
06, 2022
Police
in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka has arrested a Muslim man for throwing bricks at
a Catholic church that damaged two pictures of the Virgin Mary and the church’s
patron, St. Eugene De Mazenod.
Mohammad
Nahid Sheikh, 26, hurled bricks and smashed the stained glass portraits on the
façade of De Mazenod Catholic Church, run by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate
congregation in Baridhara area of Dhaka, on May 4, said parish priest Oblate
Father Subash Gomes.
The
police arrested the Muslim youth from the spot, and he confessed to the police
that he attacked the church with the intent of hurting religious sentiments (of
Christians), Father Gomes told UCA News, condemning the attack and demanding
justice.
“This
incident was motivated and planned for a purpose which has dealt a severe blow
to the religious sentiments of all Christians. We strongly condemn this
incident and demand the government of Bangladesh to find out the masterminds of
the incident and bring them to justice under the law,” Father Gomes stated.
The
church authority also filed a first information report (FIR) to Vatara police
station which covers the area.
The
detainee is now in police custody while interrogation is ongoing to find out
the motive behind the attack, said police officer Golam Mostafa, who dismissed
the incident as “not a big issue.”
“We
don't think it's a big deal. Maybe he wasn't allowed into the church and he did
it out of anger. However, we are keeping him in our custody and interrogating
him. If it is done with the intention of hurting religious feelings then there
will definitely be a case,” the police officer Mostafa told UCA News.
The
officer said he suspects the attacker might be “intoxicated.”
Catholics
in Dhaka and elsewhere took to social media site Facebook to condemn the attack
and call for justice.
Some
went on to make sarcastic remarks that again the case might be brushed off as
an act by a mentally imbalanced person, referring to another attack on a
Catholic Church in northern Bangladesh last month.
On
April 3, a Muslim man named Jannatul Ferdous, 22, entered Mother Teresa Church
in Joypurhat district, vandalized statues of Jesus, Mother Mary, and St.
Teresa, and desecrated a copy of Bible.
Police
arrested the youth while the local villagers said he as “mentally imbalanced”
person.
Bangladesh
has been long known as a moderate Muslim-majority country. However, since 2013
the country experience a sharp rise in Islamic militancy that claimed life of
50 people including liberal academics, publishers, gay rights activists,
secular bloggers, foreigners and religious minorities including Hindus, Shias,
Ahmadis and Christians.
The
militants attacked Christian clergy including an Italian Catholic priest and
two Christians were murdered, and dozens of Christians reportedly received
death threats.
In
response the government launched crackdown on militancy, leaving dozens of
militants killed in raids and many leaders and members of extremist outfits
were arrested and put on trial.
Source:
UCA News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.ucanews.com/news/muslim-man-arrested-for-church-attack-in-bangladesh/97160
--------
Bangladesh
marks Doppa Day in protest against persecution of Uyghur Muslims by Chinese
govt
5
May, 2022
Dhaka
[Bangladesh], May 5 (ANI): Bangladesh on Thursday commemorated Doppa Day and
held countrywide protests against the persecution of Uyghur Muslims by the
Chinese government.
On
May 5, every year Uyghur communities around the world observe Doppa Day. Doppa
is a traditional hat worn by the Uyghurs to celebrate and protect their
cultural heritage.
Bangladesh,
a Muslim majority country, also shows its solidarity with the Uyghur Muslims of
Xinjiang. Every year, NGOs all around the country celebrate this day to share
their spirit of Ummah with minorities of Xinjiang province.
Some
of the programmes to commemorate the day are as follows: The BBSS Welfare
Association observed Uyghur Doppa Day in solidarity with the Muslim Uyghurs of
Xinjiang, China.
A
bicycle rally and protest meeting were organized by BBSS Welfare Association.
The rally started from Police Plaza at Nikunj in Gulshan-1 went to Gulshan
Avenue 1 and 2 and ended at Police Plaza. Later a brief protest meeting was
held. Students of different schools and colleges, journalists and leaders and
activists of political parties took part in it.
The
protest meeting was presided over by the founding chairman of the organization
Tawfiq Ahmed Tafsir. Emdadul Haque Chalek, central leader of
JatiyaSwechchhasebak Party, Mohiuddin, central leader of Bangladesh Jasdar
party, Nasir Uddin Munshi, central leader of Jatiya Party participated in the
brief discussion conducted by Shafiqul Islam, secretary-general of the organization
and producer of Gazi TV.
Open
Dialogue Bangladesh(ODB) through a group of theatre artists organized a street
play in front of the National Press Club staged by Samad Bhuiyan and his team
to mark Doppa Day. The team creatively used Uyghur masks and Samad Bhuiyan to
convey the sufferings of Uyghurs, which still continues in Xinjiang, violating
all provisions of the UN Genocide Convention. Later, the artists were seen
distributing Doppa hats.
A
demonstration was organized by Muktijoddha Mancha at GEC More, Chattogram (3
pm), to protest against China’s excesses on Uyghur Muslims in East Turkistan.
Minority
Uyghurs’ Doppa (Hats for Muslims – which were banned in China) Day celebration
was commemorated by highlighting the Chinese suppression of this Muslim
community, through banners and posters explaining and displaying their inhuman
conditions prominently.
Muktijoddha
Mancha organized another protest on the same issue at Saheb Bazaar, Rajshahi.
Muktijoddha Mancha also pasted posters and painted walls, depicting human
rights violations against Uyghur Muslims, prominently, all across the Dhaka
University campus, especially in front of the Confucious Centre and Institute
of Modern Languages (which houses the Chinese Language Centre).
Source:
The Print
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Juilliard
School of Music and Dance Will Bestow an Honorary Doctorate to an Afghan Music
Educator Who Escaped the Taliban
By
Saqalain Eqbal
05
May 2022
Dr.
Ahmad Naser Sarmast shifted the Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM)
from Kabul to Lisbon, Portugal. The school currently has a flourishing music
education program, which has recently visited by the famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
Ma visited ANIM at its new location in Lisbon on March 29.
The
Juilliard School will award Dr. Ahmad Naser Sarmast, the founding director of
the Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM), an honorary doctorate on
May 20. The honorary doctorate will be presented at Juilliard’s 117th
commencement ceremony, during which Sarmast will be honored.
Sarmast,
a 2018 Polar Prize winner, moved the entire school community from
Taliban-controlled Kabul to Lisbon. Students, instructors, employees, and
family members of the ANIM were not only given asylum but also offered to
resettle and rebuild in Portugal following a series of evacuations. Sarmast and
ANIM are committed to changing the lives of indigent children by educating both
boys and girls in order to help them fulfill their artistic goals.
“It’s
a great honour to receive this distinction from such an important institution
as the Juilliard School of Music and Dance. I hope it will help focus
international attention on ANIM’s efforts to ensure the future of Afghanistan’s
rich but beleaguered musical heritage, and on the plight of those still living
there, whose musical, educational and gender rights are currently being
denied.” Dr. Sarmast expressed.
Source:
Khaama Press
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Arab World
Saudi
Arabia’s economy to exceed $1 trillion for first time in history: IMF estimate
04
May ,2022
According
to International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasts, the size of Saudi Arabia’s
economy will exceed $1 trillion in 2022, for the first time in its history,
Bloomberg Asharq reported on Wednesday.
The
data of the Saudi General Authority for Statistics indicated that the Kingdom's
economy grew during the first quarter of 2022, with the highest quarterly
growth rate since 2011. The growth rate during the first quarter of this year
was 9.6 percent, it added.
During
the first quarter, oil activity in Saudi Arabia increased by 20.4 percent and
non-oil activity by 3.7 percent, according to the data.
For
the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Earlier
in April, the IMF revised its economic forecast for Saudi Arabia, anticipating
a 2.8 percent growth, “reflecting higher oil productions in line with the OPEC+
agreement, reinforced by strong-than-anticipated growth in the non-oil sector.”
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Arab
Coalition transports 40 Houthi prisoners to Yemen in humanitarian initiative
06
May ,2022
An
aircraft transporting 40 Houthi prisoners to Yemen has landed in Aden as part
of Saudi Arabia’s humanitarian initiative, the Arab Coalition said in a
statement on Friday.
The
airlifts will happen in three phases to the Yemeni cities of Sanaa and Aden,
the statement said, adding that a total of 108 prisoners will be released.
All
108 prisoners will be transferred to Yemen by end of day in a Red Cross plane,
an Al Arabiya correspondent reported.
For
the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
The
Arab Coalition announced on April 28 that it will release 163 Houthi prisoners
who participated in combat operations against the Kingdom, also in a
“humanitarian initiative.”
The
prisoners had then participated in combat operations against the Kingdom, the
official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
The
transfer is part of an effort to end the crisis in Yemen and achieve peace,
Coalition Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Turki al-Maliki said.
It
comes as the coalition seeks to fortify shared efforts to maintain the
UN-brokered truce, which went into effect on April 2.
The
fragile truce, which began on the first day of the Muslim holy month of
Ramadan, continues to be largely held, offering a glimmer of hope in war-torn
Yemen.
US
Special Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking said the truce was a “first step” to a
permanent ceasefire in an interview with Reuters in April.
“If
the international community and parties can work together, this could be built
into a lasting ceasefire and inclusive political process that ultimately gives
shape to a new Yemen,” Lenderking said in the interview.
The
truce has led to oil tankers arriving at the port of Hodeida, potentially
easing fuel shortages in Sanaa and elsewhere.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Kurdish
official says 10,000 fled northern Iraq fighting
05
May ,2022
More
than 10,000 people have fled fighting between the Iraqi army and Yazidi
fighters affiliated with Turkey’s banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an
official from Iraq’s Kurdistan region said Thursday.
The
latest figure is more than double the 4,000 which an official from the region
reported on Tuesday had arrived.
The
Yazidis are a Kurdish-speaking non-Arab, non-Muslim minority who were massacred
by ISIS extremists in 2014.
Clashes
left one Iraqi soldier dead on Monday in the northern region of Sinjar, the
Yazidi minority’s heartland which is the site of frequent confrontations
between security forces and local fighters allied with the separatist PKK.
The
latest fighting “has driven families to flee to the Kurdistan region,” with
many heading to Dohuk province, said Dayane Hamo, an official in charge of
crisis response.
“In
three days, their number reached 1,711 families and 10,261 people,” Hamo said,
adding they had been given food and other supplies to last a week.
The
latest fighting began Sunday, with each side blaming the other for starting it.
A
senior Iraqi army official said the clashes cost the lives of a dozen Yazidi
fighters.
The
army is seeking to apply an agreement reached between Baghdad and the Kurdistan
region for the withdrawal of Yazidi and PKK fighters.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Iraq
sandstorm sends more than 1,000 to hospital
05
May ,2022
More
than 1,000 Iraqis were rushed to hospital with respiratory ailments on Thursday
due to a sandstorm, the seventh to hit the country in the past month, state
media said.
Residents
of six of Iraq’s 18 provinces, including Baghdad and the vast western region of
al-Anbar, awoke once again to a thick cloud of dust blanketing the sky.
Authorities
in al-Anbar and Kirkuk provinces, north of the capital, urged people to stay
indoors, said the official INA news agency.
Hospitals
in al-Anbar province had received more than 700 patients with breathing
difficulties, said Anas Qais, a health official cited by INA.
The
central province of Salaheddin reported more than 300 cases, while the central
province of Diwaniya and the province of Najaf, south of Baghdad, each recorded
about 100 cases, the news agency added.
Iraq
is particularly vulnerable to climate change, having already witnessed record
low rainfall and high temperatures in the past few years.
Experts
have said these factors threaten to bring social and economic disaster in the
war-scarred country.
In
November, the World Bank warned Iraq could suffer a 20-percent drop in water
resources by 2050 due to climate change.
In
early April, a government official warned Iraq could face “272 days of dust” a
year in coming decades.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Landmine
planted by PKK terrorists kills Danish cyclist in northern Iraq
06.05.2022
DUHOK,
Iraq
A
Danish cyclist died from his injuries Thursday after his bike hit a landmine in
Duhok province in northern Iraq.
The
landmine, planted by PKK terrorists in Kani Masi village in Amedi district,
detonated when two Danish cyclists were passing through the region, local media
reported.
One
of the cyclists succumbed to his injuries, according to reports.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Iraqi army fights PKK problem in northern Iraq’s Sinjar region
05.05.2022
BAGHDAD
Amid
increasing clashes with the PKK terror group in the Sinjar district of the
Mosul province, the Iraqi military has launched a large-scale operation for the
first time since the 2020 Sinjar Agreement, with one of the main objectives
being the elimination of PKK terrorists.
Iraq
has recently conducted a military operation to clear the region of PKK
terrorists in response to the group's increasing terror attacks.
On
Sunday evening, heavy fighting erupted between the Iraqi army and the
PKK-affiliated Sinjar Resistance Units (YBS).
Despite
sporadic clashes between the army and YBS in recent months, there were no
decisive moves taken before Sunday to implement the 2020 deal.
The
presence of the PKK terrorists in Sinjar causes a security threat for the
civilians in the region.
Displaced
Ezidis want peace and stability to be restored in the area so they can return
after eight years in camps.
Although
an agreement was signed between the Iraqi government and northern Iraq's
Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) on Oct. 9, 2020, the terrorist organization
has stepped up its activities.
The
PKK continues its presence in the district as the Sinjar Agreement has not been
fully implemented yet.
Anadolu
Agency compiled major developments in the conflict between the Iraqi army and
the PKK.
How
did PKK gain a foothold in Sinjar?
Daesh/ISIS
terrorists attacked Sinjar, a region with an Ezidi-majority population, in
August 2014.
The
terror group kidnapped and killed thousands of people, including women and
children, or detained them in areas under its control.
The
PKK terrorist organization managed to establish a foothold in Sinjar in 2014
under the pretext of protecting the Ezidi community from Daesh/ISIS terrorists.
Increasing
tensions after Sinjar Agreement
The
tension in the region increased after Baghdad announced on Oct. 9, 2020 a
"historic deal" with northern Iraq’s KRG to bolster the federal
government's authority in Sinjar.
Tensions
broke out between PKK supporters and Iraqi forces in Sinjar on March 11, 2021,
according to local media reports.
The
PKK group was reportedly stopped at a checkpoint belonging to the Iraqi forces,
and the terror group attacked an Iraqi military vehicle.
On
Dec. 12, 2021, clashes broke out between the Iraqi military and groups
affiliated with the PKK, during which an army tank was set on fire and two
demonstrators were injured, the KRG Anti-Terrorism Unit said in a statement.
The
conflict between the PKK and Iraqi forces flared up on April 19 after the
terror group refused to vacate a checkpoint.
An
Iraqi soldier was reportedly killed and some people were injured in clashes on
May 1-2, according to local media reports.
Ezidis
forced out by PKK
After
the Daesh/ISIS attack in 2014, most Ezidis had to leave their homes and flee to
various parts of the country, including the KRG area. Some of the Ezidi victims
also took refuge in Turkiye.
The
PKK abducted and forcibly recruited Ezidi children in Sinjar. The Ezidi people
held many protests for the release of their children kidnapped by the terror
group.
The
recent clashes have seen Sinjar residents once again displaced from their
homes.
On
May 4, Viyan Dehil, an Ezidi lawmaker in the Iraqi parliament, said more than
4,000 civilians have been displaced in Sinjar in just two days.
Iraqi
army moves against PKK
After
increasing tensions in Sinjar, a high-level military delegation headed by Iraqi
Chief of General Staff Abdul Amir Yarallah visited the district on Tuesday to
conduct an inspection.
Iraq’s
Defense Ministry announced that the situation in Sinjar is “under control,”
following clashes between the YBS and the Iraqi army.
Sinjar
has a strategic position as it is some 120 kilometers (74 miles) from Mosul and
close to the Turkish-Syrian border.
The
terror group aims to create a corridor between the YPG/PKK in northern Syria
and Iraq’s northern Qandil region.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Pakistan
After
Imran Khan's exit Pakistan goes back to its default position-mends fences with
Saudi Arabia
May
05 2022
By
Aditi Bhaduri
New
Delhi, May 5: They have been one of Pakistan's most enduring backers and
Shehbaz Sharif's very first foreign visit, after taking over as Prime Minister
of Pakistan, to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and thereafter to the United Arab
Emirates (UAE), set the compass for the future trajectory of the country's
foreign policy. A priority is to mend fences with these two energy powerhouses,
as bilateral relations had been in a freefall under the now deposed Prime
Minister Imran Khan.
To
be fair to Imran Khan, relations between the two sides had begun to deteriorate
since the time of Nawaz Sharif and his government's refusal to participate in
the Saudi-Emirati war in Yemen in 2015. That spurred the Saudi-led coalition to
go it on their own and it still remains embroiled in the war with no end in
sight while the Houthi rebels, backed by Iran, have become increasingly
aggressive targeting oil installations inside Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Given
the deep and strong security relations between Pakistan and the Gulf States,
rooted in the client-State paradigm, and Pakistan's overwhelming economic
dependence on the Saudis and the Emiratis –- nearly 2.7 million Pakistanis live
and work in Saudi Arabia and about 1.2 million in the UAE, this was simply
unacceptable. Pakistan, on the other hand, turned to iron friend China for
economic relief through the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
When
Imran Khan took the reins of the government there was a short-lived
rapproachment -- Khan's first foreign visit was to Saudi Arabia and the UAE
while Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman paid a visit to Islamabad in early
2019 where he pledged to be Pakistan's ambassador in Riyadh, and also pledged
$20 billion in investment. Though Khan too refused to take sides in the Yemen
war, he announced his readiness to play mediator between Iran and the Saudi-Emirati
side.
Pakistan's
perennial economic woes found relief with a $3 billion loan and a $3.2 billion
oil credit facility by the Saudis in late 2018.
However,
it all came undone when his Arab friends refused to condemn first India's
surgical strikes in Muzzafarnagar, and later the abrogation of Jammu and
Kashmir's special status and its bifurcation. Instead, Pakistan began pivoting
towards Turkey precisely when the latter's relations with the Saudis came under
grave strain because of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and Turkey's
patronage of the Muslim Brotherhood in the region and deepening relations with
Qatar, another country on which the Saudi-led Sunni coalition had imposed a
boycott and blockade.
Worse,
together with Turkey and Malaysia, Pakistan became part of an Islamic triad,
which mooted a new Islamic summit as a counter to the Saudi-led Organisation of
Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which it felt had failed to deal meaningfully with
issues like Kashmir. The three saw themselves as spearheading change in the
Muslim world and offering fresh and more resolute leadership to counter
"Muslim problems". So enraged were the Saudis that they issued
unequivocal threats to Khan who, at the last minute, pulled out of the summit
held in Kuala Lumpur in October, 2019. In a series of snubs to Imran Khan, the
Saudis also demanded payments of the loan which Islamabad had to oblige at
pains to its exchequer; it however turned to China for loans to balance out the
preponed payments.
As
the bromance between Pakistan and China deepened, Khan, who spewed almost
non-stop venom at Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the RSS for
"mistreatement" of India's Muslims, remained mum on China's ethnic
cleansing of its Uyghur Muslim minority.
Alas,
China is not Saudi Arabia. The CPEC, while supported by successive Pakistani
governments, has also given rise to widespread popular resentment, with the
suicide bombing inside Karachi University last week being the latest in a
series of general expressions of local dissatisfaction at the project. The
Chinese also do not engage in economic largesse like the Gulf countries do.
According to the IMF, Pakistan owes $6.7 billion in commercial loans to China,
pushing it deep into a debt trap. And Turkey, while adept at raising the Kashmir
issue in the UN, is struggling with its own economy.
Even
as Khan cried himself hoarse over Kashmir and Islamophobia in general, the
Pakistani economy rapidly deteriorated. Spiralling inflation, rising prices,
over borrowing, ballooning internal and external debts, widespread
unemployment, depreciating currency has been the result of the years of Imran
Khan's rule. In its World Economic Outlook the IMF has projected that
Pakistan's current account deficit will hit $18.5 billion this fiscal year.
Shehbaz
Sharif's work is cut out for him: to stabilise the economy first. And the only
quarters he could look to for quick fix solution were to Pakistan's Arab
mentors.
Meanwhile,
the Saudi-Emirati war in Yemen continues with greater ferocity. Even as direct
talks between the Saudis and Iran have begun, the Houthis have become more
belligerent. They are taking the war inside the Kingdom and the Emirates --
they have targeted both ARAMCO and ADNOC oil facilities, causing billions of
dollars of loss. Speculation is rife on whether the Houthis have gone rogue or
Iran is using them to strengthen its negotiating position. In South Asia, the
worst nightmare of the gulf monarchies has come true with the ascendence of the
Taliban in Kabul and return of political Islam in the region, giving rival
Qatar an upper hand. The Islamic State has been beaten but it has still not
gone away, and successive attacks in Afghanistan may be a pointer that it is
once again regrouping. And traditional security provider USA seems to be disinterested
in the region in countering any of these numerous threats. Either ways, the
Sunni coalition could do with some additional support -- whether by putting
boots on the ground in Yemen or more air power.
Source:
Daiji World
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.daijiworld.com/news/newsDisplay?newsID=955062
--------
Cases
of Madina incident should not be lodged in Pakistan: Khursheed
May
6, 2022
SUKKUR:
Federal Minister for Water Resources Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah has said that
cases for Madina incident should not be registered in Pakistan and Interior
Minister Rana Sanaullah should rethink the issue seriously.
Cases
should not have been lodged against members of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI)
and action should only be taken against the people who took law into their
hands in Pakistan, he said, adding if somebody had shown disrespect to the
sacred place, only Allah and His Prophet (PBUH) would punish him for that.
Talking
to people at different places during Eid days, Shah said: “We do not believe in
political victimisation. We believe in democratic norms and will never object
to Imran Khan’s democratic right to protest. Whoever wishes to bring millions
of people in long march should not be barred and protesters should not be
arrested for taking part in a peaceful protest.”
“The
government should be careful while issuing statements about PTI’s long march.
It should take decisions with consensus as we are their partners in the
coalition government,” he said.
He
said the present coalition might get stronger by contesting local bodies as
well as general election together. Politicians must speak truth before people,
if they kept telling lies, it would be dangerous for them, he said.
He
said that Imran Khan was now holding big gatherings but he did nothing for the
county and rather plunged Pakistan into economic crisis.
He
said that when the establishment supported PTI, it was good, and when it
declared itself as apolitical it suddenly became bad.
Source:
Dawn
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
KP,
Sindh, Balochistan ‘reeling from food insecurity’
Amin
Ahmed
May
6, 2022
ISLAMABAD:
Multiple shocks, including high food and fuel prices, drought, livestock
diseases and widespread loss of income-generating opportunities due to the
impact of Covid-19 drove high levels of food insecurity across Balochistan,
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh provinces, says a global report issued on Wednesday.
The
‘Global Report on Food Crises’ released by the Global Network Against Food
Crises, an alliance of the United Nations, the European Union, government and
non-governmental agencies working to tackle food crises together, stated that
drought conditions in Balochistan and Sindh and inadequate monsoon rainfall in
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had reduced crop and livestock production and contributed to
rising national food prices.
In
KP, the situation is worse as the province is yet to recover from the impact of
a decade of conflict.
The
overwhelming majority of livestock holders (87 per cent in Balochistan and 60
per cent in Sindh) reported livestock production difficulties in three months
preceding the July-August assessment because of reduced access to pasture and
water, difficulty in purchasing feed due to high prices or limited access to
markets, difficulty in accessing veterinary services and inputs, and livestock
diseases.
Rising
prices, drought, livestock diseases, Covid-caused unemployment cited among key
factors behind crisis
Most
livestock holders experienced livestock deaths, while distress selling became
commonplace in order to meet food and other needs, or due to limited
availability of fodder, the report says.
The
number of people facing crisis or worse is expected to decrease slightly in
Sindh and increase slightly in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as high food
and fuel prices curtail the purchasing power of low-income households. Drought
may also affect wheat crop production in rain-fed areas of Balochistan and
Sindh.
In
Balochistan, when comparing the same nine districts analysed in 2019 and 2021,
the number of people in crisis or worse decreased from 1.4 million to 0.9
million in October 2021-March 2022. In Sindh, 2.3 million people were in crisis
or worse in late 2021, an improvement since March-June 2021. In 2021, moderate
to severe drought conditions reduced crop and livestock production in
Balochistan and Sindh. Balochistan experienced moderate to severe drought
conditions from April to September 2021, while severe drought conditions were
prevailing in eight out of nine districts of Sindh in June 2021, according to
the Met office.
In
July/August 2021, around 56 per cent of households in Balochistan and 30 per
cent in Sindh reported their household livelihood/income had been severely
affected by drought. By October 2021, drought conditions improved in Sindh due
to persistent rains in previous months.
In
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, most of the analysed districts are dependent on rain-fed
agriculture. However, inadequate monsoon and pre-monsoon rainfall in 2021 led
to a decline in crop and livestock production. Lack of rainfall was cited as a
primary contributor to lower production levels, with around one-third of farming
households reporting reduced production for the main crop relative to the
five-year average.
Source:
Dawn
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1688225/kp-sindh-balochistan-reeling-from-food-insecurity
--------
Zardari
sure allies will form govts in Balochistan, KPK soon
May
6, 2022
HYDERABAD/DADU:
Former head of state Asif Ali Zardari has said that not he but Bilawal Bhutto
Zardari could get the position held by [his grandfather] Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
and mother Benazir Bhutto. “I cannot put my foot in the shoes of Bhuttos,” he
remarked.
He
was addressing party workers in Bandhi town of Shaheed Benazirabad district
where former town committee chairman Muzaffar Hussain Jamali and former nazim
Mumtaz Ali Jamali hosted a dinner in his honour on Tuesday (Eid day).
“PPP
moo wat Bibi Sahiba ji amanat aahay (PPP is trust of Bibi Sahiba which I have
kept with me),” he said in his brief speech.
He
said he was not worth putting his foot in the shoes of Bhutto Sahib and Bibi
Sahiba. “But Bilawal Bhutto can achieve that position [of Bhuttos],” he added.
Imran
Khan’s ouster termed ‘half success’
Mr
Zardari, who is co-chairman of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), said “conflict is
big and as such my efforts are also big”. He did not explain what kind of
conflict he is alluding to. “The war is between tyrant and victim …
they
keep coming up with new faces; sometime in the shape of Gen Musharraf and
sometime in the shape of Gen Zia. Now it is Imran Khan,” he said.
He
said he had told Imran Khan he would not be spared; “and see he has been ousted
though for his own follies”.
“Z.
A. Bhutto preferred gallows and left a learning for all of us,” he remarked. He
said that he had faced Pakistan’s courts. “My people and workers are my court.
You have always voted for me and Bibi,” he told the audience. In a lighter
vein, he smilingly stated: “I always say that workers be allowed to meet me
otherwise they will throw tomatoes at me when I will approach them for vote
next time”.
He
promised jobs for youths and said that workers should pray for him regardless
of the fact that they were offering prayers or not. “Your prayers benefit me,
and I will serve workers,” he said. He also announced construction of a railway
bridge for the people of Bandhi and Shahzado Dahiri link road.
Provincial
ministers including Jam Khan Shoro, Sharjeel Memon, Nasir Shah and others were
also present.
Speaking
at another gathering of workers in Zardari House, Asif Zardari said that PPP
and its allies would soon form their governments in Balochistan and Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa as well.
“We
have achieved success, but it’s half, the other half will be achieved when we
will form our governments in Balochistan and KPK,” he said.
He
expressed his confidence that “PPP will form its governments in Punjab and
KPK”.
Leaders
and senior activists of PPP’s Shaheed Benazirabad district as well as notables
from different districts including Naushahero Feroze and Sanghar met the PPP
co-chairman to exchange Eid greetings.
He
said Pakistan had seen a sustained struggle by journalists for press freedom.
Benazir
Bhutto, he added, had lifted a longstanding ban on media coverage in 1988.
“Freedom of expression is the yardstick to measure democracy,” he remarked.
He
said he saluted all those who had endured hardships, incarceration and even
flogging in the struggle for independent journalism. He said PPP would always
defend freedom of press and expression.
Speaking
at a reception hosted for him in Karnal Goth, Nawabshah, on Thursday by Shoaib
Arain and Qurban Ali Arain, Asif Ali Zardari said he would ensure economic
prosperity of the country so that poor could become rich. He said it would not
lead the country to prosperity if rich got richer. He said he has accomplished
one task so far and several other tasks still remained unaccomplished, adding
that politicians had always talked about Pakistan’s prosperity.
“It
is not Pakistan’s destiny that we should remain poor. I will make this country
prosperous. Poor will become rich. A country progresses if poor become rich and
not if rich become richer,” he remarked.
The
PPP co-chairman said that Z. A. Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto stood tall due to
their character. He said that he always cherished his love with masses and
masses’ love with him.
He
said that he and his family were beholden to people of Nawabshah. He said that
people got him and his father elected to the National Assembly from here. He
said that every individual of Nawabshah could claim a right on him and PPP. He
said he was born in Nawabshah and accustomed to the city’s heat.
Source:
Dawn
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1688163/zardari-sure-allies-will-form-govts-in-balochistan-kpk-soon
--------
Governor
calls on army to help end crisis in Punjab
Mansoor
Malik
May
6, 2022
LAHORE:
Despite the armed forces repeatedly refusing to be pushed into the country’s
perpetual political quagmire, Punjab Governor Omar Sarfraz Cheema has sought
the army’s intervention to lead the province out of the crises plaguing it for
months. He has also decided to send a reference against Lahore High Court’s
Justice Jawad Hassan to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) for an “illegal
decision” of asking the National Assembly speaker to administer the oath to the
then chief minister-elect Hamza Shehbaz.
On
Thursday, the governor wrote a letter to Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed
Bajwa, requesting him to play a defining role in the current chaotic times, as
he was of the opinion that the constitutional crisis-ridden Punjab has been
held hostage.
With
the letter, the governor also attached the separate letters he wrote to the
president and prime minister — the latter sent just before writing to Gen
Bajwa. “Both these letters encompass my real anxiety and dilemmas on the
constitutional impasse faced by this country, particularly the province of
Punjab,” he wrote.
In
his letter to PM Shehbaz Sharif, the Punjab governor accused Hamza of taking
advantage of being the son of the premier in getting himself elected as the CM.
He accused the Punjab bureaucracy of extending full support during the CM’s
election on April 16 to ensure Hamza was elected, and also chided the premier
for occupying the highest office through an “unconstitutional exercise”.
Mr
Cheema has urged the army chief to help restore the constitutional framework by
reposing trust in the people, who are honest, fair and entitled to be trusted
in the form of federal and provincial governments of Pakistan.
The
governor has already expressed anxiety over his stated stance that the oath
administered to Hamza Shehbaz as chief minister, his consequent notification
and de-notification of the former chief executive, Usman Buzdar, were illegal.
He
alleged that Hamza, using the powers of his father Shehbaz Sharif being the
prime minister, had even held Governor House hostage to hold the oath-taking
ceremony on April 30. The governor claimed that even he was not allowed to
enter the premises that day.
Condemning
the supposed desecration of law and the Constitution in a series of tweets, Mr
Cheema eventually tweeted, “If the COAS provides me with one subedar and four
army jawans, I will personally get the unconstitutional, illegal and fake chief
minister (Hamza Shehbaz) arrested and throw him in jail.”
In
earlier tweets, he wrote that he had clarified in his statement the kind of
intervention he expected and what was needed. “I would have appealed to the
public if I was not the governor,” he said.
Mr
Cheema, however, added that political parties had always demanded the
[intervention of army’s] 111 Brigade in the past. “I have just asked for four
jawans and a subedar.”
He
further said the province, which was facing a constitutional and legal crisis,
had been “taken hostage by force” and called the political parties’ silence
“very concerning”. He sounded a word of caution that if all of them had
accepted the “Hamza Shehbaz formula” for becoming the chief minister, other
provinces should be concerned about themselves.
He
also said if those who had “insulted the Constitution and the law by force”
were protected then anyone could take over a constitutional office the same way
in the future. Mr Cheema said he had always demanded a “neutral umpire” in his
26-year-long political career, elaborating that a “neutral umpire” ensured a
level playing field for all sides, otherwise he could not be called “neutral”
and the game would not be fair.
Since
the governor is adamant that the Constitution had been defiled in the political
events during the entire month of April, on the first day of Eidul Fitr on
Tuesday he tweeted that he had sent an Eid gift to the leaders of the ruling
coalition. “I have sent the Constitution of Pakistan to the political leaders
as an Eid gift who are making foolish statements or expressing their anguish
without reading the document.”
Posting
tweet after tweet on all three days of Eid, he promised the nation that he
would continue fighting the “Sicilian mafia” and soon get the offices vacated
by the “illegal and unconstitutional” chief minister in Punjab.
Letter
to PM
Before
writing to the army chief, the same day Governor Cheema, in his two-page letter
to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on the “constitutional impasse and political
crisis in Punjab” explained the predicament emanating from former CM Buzdar’s
‘disputed’ resignation to the PML-N getting the support of PTI dissidents and
winning the CM’s election. He said Hamza took advantage of being the son of the
prime minister in this “unconstitutional struggle”.
In
this entire saga, the governor regretted that the political parties and civil
servants had failed to appreciate that the Constitution was totally silent as
to how in such a situation a claimant to the position was to be administered
oath.
In
fact, he wrote, “the bureaucracy of Punjab, led by Chief Secretary Kamran Ali
Afzal, and the inspector general of police have played a heinous role”. The
officers withdrew all strength from the office of the governor and allowed the
premises of Governor House to be denied all security and assistance. He alleged
that the chief secretary distorted facts and exerted pressure on the office of
the governor to allow the oath to Hamza, while knowing well the “unholy
circumstances of the disputed election”.
He
also accused the chief secretary and the IGP of extending full support during
the CM’s election on April 16 to ensure Hamza returned as elected. Cheema also
chided the premier, accusing him of indulging in an unconstitutional exercise
to occupy the highest office and exposing Pakistan to immense political crisis
and chaos.
Earlier,
in the six-page letter he wrote to the president on April 23, the governor had
sought Dr Arif Alvi’s advice for resolving the issue of the disputed election
of the Punjab chief minister at the Punjab Assembly as well as the resignation
of outgoing CM Buzdar, which was typed and addressed to the prime minister and
not to the office of the governor as required under Article 130(8) of the
Constitution.
The
governor later called Buzdar’s resignation the real “fitna” (mischief) behind
the constitutional crisis in Punjab. In the letter, the governor explained his
reasons for not administering the oath of chief minister to Hamza Shehbaz,
saying the political impasse in the province had erupted due to the
controversial resignation of Mr Buzdar followed by the election for the CM,
which he claimed was a classic case of violation of the Constitution and rules
framed thereunder and the order of a Lahore High Court division bench.
‘Unbecoming
of governor’
Reacting
to involving the army in political affairs, federal Law Minister Azam Nazir
Tarar says it is unbecoming of a governor to write to the army chief, as the
constitutional offices require a basic sense of restraint.
He
said the governor was neither an appellate authority nor in a position to
adjudicate upon the election of the chief minister, and must refrain from
indulging in these things. “He is inviting high treason cases for himself,” Mr
Tarar maintained.
Separately,
PTI Punjab president Shafqat Mahmood held back commenting on the issue by just
saying the governor had only informed the president, prime minister and COAS
about the legal and constitutional issues in Punjab.
Meanwhile,
the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has regretted Governor Cheema’s
communication with Gen Bajwa. “The HRCP regrets the letter,” says Chairperson
Hina Jillani.
Talking
to Dawn, she said the commission had always opposed invitations to all
non-constitutional forces for interference in the political process. She said
there seems to be an agenda that was being acted upon for the last few years.
Initially, Ms Jillani said, they were doing it all discreetly, but now trying
it openly. “Otherwise, how can a man, holding a high constitutional office,
invite extra-constitutional interference? Did he get a sign from within the
institution?” she questioned, adding the letter would also put the military in
a difficult situation explaining the governor’s conduct.
Reference
against LHC judge
On
the other hand, terming ‘illegal’ the order of Lahore High Court’s Justice
Jawad Hassan asking National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to administer
oath to the then CM-elect Hamza Shehbaz, Governor Cheema said he would file a
reference against the judge with the SJC.
Addressing
a press conference at Punjab House in Islamabad, the Punjab governor expected
the SJC to check the fact that there was no constitutional provision allowing
anyone besides the president or the governor to administer the oath to a chief
minister. He also called the chief secretary’s notification about the new CM
illegal, and claimed the election for the office was conducted against the
Constitution. He maintained the judiciary could not interfere in the functions
of the provincial assembly.
He
told the presser he had requested meetings with the president and army chief to
discuss the situation. He also said he would send his legal team to Prime
Minister Sharif to make him understand the legal obligations for the CM’s election.
Source:
Dawn
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1688236/governor-calls-on-army-to-help-end-crisis-in-punjab
--------
Southeast Asia
Chinese
National Sun Sicong Admits To Posting Anti-Islam Remarks Online With The
Intention Of Wounding The Religious Feelings
Shaffiq
Alkhatib
SINGAPORE
- A Temasek Polytechnic (TP) student has admitted in a district court that he
posted anti-Islam remarks on social media platform Instagram.
Chinese
national Sun Sicong, now 21, pleaded guilty on Friday (May 6) to uploading
online remarks with the intention of wounding the religious feelings of others.
The
Singapore permanent resident committed the offence between 2018 and 2019.
Two
other charges, including one count of harassment, will be considered during
sentencing.
Deputy
Public Prosecutor Senthilkumaran Sabapathy said that initially, no police
reports were filed over the offensive Insta-story posts on Sun’s Instagram
account.
The
court heard that Insta-story posts are automatically deleted after 24 hours.
The
DPP told the court: “The offensive posts, however, resurfaced online some time
around June 7, 2020, after the accused created and uploaded online further
insensitive Insta-story posts... containing a screenshot of a rape victim’s
recount of her rape ordeal along with (lewd and obscenity-laden) comments.”
Other
Instagram users became upset when they saw Sun’s posts and responded to him.
In
doing so, they referred to screenshots of his earlier anti-Islam posts, which
went viral soon after.
They
were widely disseminated over the Internet and police later received 62 reports
from members of the public who felt threatened and alarmed after seeing the
anti-Islam posts.
In
an earlier statement, the police said that in June 2020, they received “many
reports regarding an Instagram user who had posted insensitive comments and
threats that could incite violence against the Muslim community”.
The
police added that the posts contained hate comments that could wound religious
feelings.
In
their statement, the police also said that they take a serious view of acts
that have the potential to damage racial and religious harmony in Singapore.
On
Friday, defence lawyer Justin Ng told District Judge Kessler Soh that his
client was around 18 when he made the posts and had committed the offence due
to “youthful immaturity”.
Mr
Ng also said that due to his nationality, Sun had been bullied by his
schoolmates before he became a polytechnic student.
Judge
Soh has called for a report to assess Sun’s suitability for probation and he
will be sentenced on June 23.
Earlier,
TP told The Straits Times that Sun had been suspended for two consecutive
semesters following investigations in June 2020.
Source:
Straits Times
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Anwar-Najib
debate on next Thursday night at Matic KL, show to be ‘live’
06
May 2022
BY
DEBRA CHONG
KUALA
LUMPUR, May 6 ― Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Opposition
Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will be facing off against each other in a
public debate next week.
In
a joint statement today, the offices of both the Umno politician and the PKR
president confirmed that the duo have reached an agreement on the much
talked-about debate, without indicating the topic.
“Both
have agreed to choose the Malaysia Tourism Centre (Matic), Kuala Lumpur as the
location of the debate on May 12 at 9pm,” they said.
The
debate will be broadcast live on TV and social media with the channels to be
announced later.
It
is believed to be the first time the two will be debating one-on-one in public.
The
two federal lawmakers have recently been trading barbs on their social media
channels over troubled oil-and-gas company Sapura Energy Berhad.
The
row started when PKR deputy president hopeful Rafizi Ramli who is former Pandan
MP challenged Najib to a public debate on Sapura Energy.
But
Najib replied that he would only take on the debate if it were Anwar; the
latter accepted last month.
Source:
Malay Mail
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Let
Parliament’s term end before calling GE15, says Hadi
May
6, 2022
PETALING
JAYA: PAS is opposed to the idea of an early general election and wants the
current Parliament to run until May 2023 when its full term expires, its
president Abdul Hadi Awang said today.
Hadi
said the current Ismail Sabri Yaakob-led government should be allowed to govern
and carry out its responsibilities for another year, Sinar Harian reported.
The
Marang MP said the people were tired of politics while the nation was still
recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic and its economic impact.
“It
would be better to give this current government the chance and time to fulfill
its responsibilities. Therefore, we agree with GE15 being put off for now,” he
told reporters after Friday prayers in Terengganu.
It
was reported that Umno wanted GE15 to be held after the government’s memorandum
of understanding (MoU) with Pakatan Harapan ends on July 31.
Umno
has already named Ismail as its prime minister candidate for GE15.
Nonetheless,
Hadi said PAS was ready to face a snap general election, with its election
machinery across the country ready to be mobilised when needed.
He
reiterated that PAS would continue to strengthen the unity of the ummah through
its partnerships with Bersatu and Umno, as well as Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS)
and other “non-extreme” non-Muslim groups.
Previously,
Hadi said the PAS-led Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu state governments would
not dissolve their respective state assemblies should GE15 be called this year.
Source:
Free Malaysia Today
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Mideast
Iran
Asks Int'l Community to Fight against Islamophobia
2022-May-5
Takht
Ravanchi made the remarks during a session of the UN's Committee on Information
on Wednesday.
He
noted how some Western anti-Islam media outlets and officials were contributing
to creation of "an atmosphere of hatemongering" around Islam and
Muslims around the world by fueling Islamophobia.
"The
time has come for the international community to condemn this phenomenon and
take the necessary measures that are aimed at fighting Islamophobia and
violation of Muslims' basic rights," Takht Ravanchi said.
Elsewhere,
he considered deployment of the coercive economic measures to be contrary to
the principles of the international law and the humanitarian law that have been
specified in the UN Charter.
He,
therefore, called on the UN department to increase its efforts to broadcast the
negative consequences that the unilateral bans for the target nations.
Takht
Ravanchi said that the sanctions had "both weakened [the trend of]
economic growth in the target countries and come to prevent their access to
basic medical equipment and materials by restricting access to overseas'
financial resources."
Separately,
the envoy denounced some countries' abuse of their monopoly of modern
communication technologies towards "skewing the truth" about other
countries, especially the developing nations.
"It
is imperative that this unfavorable situation be immediately addressed by the
international community," he said.
In
relevant remarks on Monday, Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Mohammad
Reza Ashtiani felicitated Eid Al-Fitr to his counterparts in the Muslim states,
and warned of the spread of Islamophobia and terrorism by the imperialist
powers.
General
Ashtiani in separate messages to his counterparts in Muslim states called on
the Islamic countries to unite with greater amity and solidarity against plots
and conspiracies designed by the western powers.
He
emphasized that it is necessary for the Islamic countries to unite with each
other in the face of the hegemonic powers' plots through collaboration, unity
and closer solidarity.
Source:
Fars News Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/14010215000186/Iran-Asks-In'l-Cmmniy-Figh-agains-Islamphbia
--------
Turkey
‘destroyed’ EU hopes by jailing Erdogan critic: MEPs
05
May ,2022
Turkey
“deliberately destroyed” its chances of joining the EU by jailing Osman Kavala,
a critic of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the European Parliament said
Thursday.
MEPs
adopted a nonbinding resolution strongly condemning the life sentence an
Istanbul court last week handed to Kavala on controversial charges of trying to
topple the government.
For
the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
The
64-year-old philanthropist had already been held without conviction for more
than four years.
“The
current Turkish Government has deliberately destroyed any hopes of reopening
its EU accession process or opening new chapters and closing open ones under
the current circumstances,” the resolution said.
It
called Kavala’s detention “unjust, unlawful and illegitimate” and demanded his
immediate liberation.
The
EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said just after the verdict that the
bloc’s members “deeply regret” it.
On
Wednesday, the EU’s commissioner for international partnerships, Jutta
Urpilainen, told the European Parliament that the sentence was “a chilling
warning about the shrinking space for civil society in Turkey.”
Kavala,
a soft-spoken intellectual and businessman, has denied the charges levelled
against him and said ahead of the court’s verdict that he was the target of
“judicial assassination.”
He
was accused in the court of funding large-scale anti-government protests in
2013, when Erdogan was prime minister. Erdogan has portrayed him as a leftist
agent of the Hungarian-born US billionaire George Soros.
Previously,
Kavala was also charged with involvement in a failed 2016 putsch seen as
driving a more authoritarian streak by Erdogan.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Israel’s
top court paves way for razing eight Palestinian hamlets
05
May ,2022
Israel’s
Supreme Court has rejected a petition against the eviction of more than 1,000
Palestinian inhabitants of a rural part of the occupied West Bank in an area
which Israel has designated for military exercises.
After
two decades of inconclusive legal maneuvering, the Supreme Court issued its
ruling late on Wednesday, paving the way for the demolition of eight small
villages in a rocky, arid area near Hebron known to Palestinians as Masafer
Yatta and to Israelis as the South Hebron Hills.
In
its ruling, the court said it had found the Palestinian dwellers, whose
inhabitants have kept a distinct, generations-long nomadic way of life, making
a living from farming and herding, had not been permanent residents of the area
when the Israeli military first declared it a firing zone in the 1980s.
Masafer
Yatta residents and Israeli rights groups say that many of the Palestinian
families have been permanently residing in the 3,000 hectares (7,400 acres)
area since before Israel captured the West Bank, in the 1967 Middle East War,
and that their eviction would constitute a breach of international law.
“This
proves that this court is part of the occupation,” said Nidal Abu Younis,
Masafer Yatta Mayor. “We are not going to leave our homes. We will stay here,”
he said.
The
court said the door was still open for the villagers to agree with the military
on using parts of the land for agricultural purposes and urged the sides to
seek a compromise.
The
Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), who along with Masafer Yatta
residents petitioned against the expulsion, said the verdict would have
“unprecedented consequences.”
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
-------
Iranian
President Calls for Unity among Muslims to Defend Palestinian Cause
2022-May-5
Palestine
is an important issue in the Muslim world, Rayeesi said in a phone conversation
with Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Wednesday.
“Muslim
countries must have cohesion and unity in defending the struggles of the
Palestinian people” against Israeli occupation, he added.
He
also pointed to the two countries’ diverse capacities, and noted that Tehran
and Jakarta can develop relations in all fields through joint efforts to
activate their potentialities.
“The
Islamic Republic of Iran seeks to promote its relations, with the priority of
friendly countries, in regional and international fields,” Rayeesi said.
The
Indonesian president, for his part, said his country is keen to boost
bilateral, regional and international cooperation with Iran, especially in the
fields of energy and health.
Widodo
added that Iran and Indonesia have cultural commonalities and close stances on
regional and international issues, including their support the Palestinian
people’s goals.
Also,
in a phone conversation with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, Rayeesi
said that Iran has always laid emphasis on the unity and integrity of
neighboring Iraq, expressing hope for the formation of a powerful government in
the Arab country.
He
expressed the hope that Iraq’s political process, which started with last
year’s parliamentary elections, would lead to the establishment of a strong
government as soon as possible.
Kadhimi,
for his part, offered congratulations to Rayeesi on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr
and hailed Iran’s support for his country.
Iraq
has so far failed to elect a new president due to a lack of quorum in the parliament,
prolonging a bitter deadlock in Iraqi politics months after a general election
considerably changed the make-up of the parliament.
Iraqi
parliamentary elections were held on October 10 last year, the fifth in Iraq
since the US-led invasion of the Arab country in 2003.
Source:
Fars News Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Official:
UN Special Rapporteur's Visit Aimed at Reviewing Dire Impacts of Sanctions on
Iran
2022-May-5
Qaribabadi
said on Thursday that the upcoming visit of Alena Douhan to Iran on the
negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human
rights is a chance for her to get familiarized with destructive impacts of the
sanctions on the Iranian people.
Ms
Douhan will visit Iran as of May 8 for 11 days, he added.
Qaribabadi
said that the visit will take place at the request of the UN Special
Rapporteur, which was accepted by Iran.
Her
main mission is to review negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on
the enjoyment of human rights in Iran, he added.
The
UN Special Rapporteur will have several meetings with Iranian officials at
state or private sectors, Qaribabadi announced, adding that she is also planned
to visit certain centers.
In
relevant remarks in October, Iranian Ambassador and Permanent Representative to
the United Nations Majid Takht Ravanchi blasted the unilateral sanctions
imposed by the US on developing countries, and said that such embargoes have
violated the indisputable and basic principles of human rights of these
nations.
Takht
Ravanchi made the remarks in an address to the Second Committee of the UN
General Assembly, which deals with global finance and economic matters.
"Such
illegal restrictive measures amount to crime against humanity and contradict
the goals of development," the Iranian ambassador said.
He
described the COVID‑19 pandemic as a "wake‑up call for the whole
world" that reminded humanity that the development, welfare and prosperity
of all people are interdependent.
Source:
Fars News Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
New
Pakistani PM Underlines Determination to Strengthen Ties with Iran
2022-May-5
Sharif
made the remarks in a congratulatory message to Iranian President Seyed Ebrahim
Rayeesi to felicitate the Eid al-Fitr to him and the Iranian nation.
"On
this occasion, I declare my determination and commitment to further deepen and
develop the close and brotherly relations between Iran and Pakistan," he
said.
Sharif
also wished the best of health and increasing success to the Iranian president,
as well as more honor and well-being of the Iranian people.
Sharif
had also last month called for the expansion mutual cooperation between Iran
and Pakistan.
"I
hope that Tehran and Islamabad could establish closer relations," Sharif
tweeted.
The
Pakistani prime minister also invited Rayeesi to pay an official visit to
Pakistan.
In
a tweet in April, Pakistan’s embassy in Tehran said Sharif has thanked
President Rayeesi for his congratulatory message on his election.
“He
hoped that they will work together to enhance close ties between the two
countries & also extended an invitation to Mr. Rayeesi to visit Pakistan,”
it said.
Source:
Fars News Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Iran
Dispatches Humanitarian Aid to Afghan People
2022-May-5
The
shipment is part of Tehran’s continued assistance to Afghanistan which is
grappling with a crisis caused by decades of war and US-led occupation.
The
new aid shipment includes 11 tons of medicines, food and clothes.
The
aid was sent to Afghanistan on an airplane, which landed at the Kabul Airport
on Wednesday.
Iran’s
Consulate General in the Northern Afghan city of Mazr-e-Sharif Seyed Hassan
Yahyavi said the relief aid was delivered to local authorities in Balkh
province so that they would be distributed among the families of those martyred
and injured in the recent terrorist attacks in Mazr-e-Sharif.
Iran
also gave some aid to the families of the victims of a mosque bombing in Konduz
province.
Iran’s
Consulate General in Mazr-e-Sharif also gave cash money to the families of
those killed or wounded in the recent acts of terrorism.
Source:
Fars News Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/14010215000419/Iran-Dispaches-Hmaniarian-Aid-Afghan-Peple
--------
Three
people killed in attack in central Israel
05
May ,2022
At
least three people were killed in an attack in the central Israeli city of Elad
on Thursday, health officials said.
Police
said the incident, which occurred as Israelis celebrated independence day,
appeared to be a terrorist attack and they had set up roadblocks to try to
catch the assailants who apparently fled the scene.
Elad’s
mayor, speaking on television, called on residents to stay indoors while
security forces were still operating.
For
the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
The
Magen David Adom ambulance service said three people were killed and two others
seriously wounded.
There
have been a spate of Arab street attacks in Israel in recent weeks. Prior to
Elad, Palestinians and members of Israel’s Arab minority have killed 15 people,
including three police officers and a security guard, in attacks in Israel and
the West Bank that have mostly targeted civilians.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Africa
Tunisia's
ex-president warns against fighting among Tunisians
Yamena
Salemi
05.05.2022
TUNIS,
Tunisia
Former
Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki on Thursday warned against the danger of
internal fighting among Tunisians as a result of Tunisian President Kais
Saied's measures.
In
a statement, he said Saied continues to disintegrate "the democratic
modern Tunisian State" as he believes that a new world order will take
place.
Marzouki
said that in the light of calls by Saied's supporters to rally on May 8 and 15,
he warned against fighting among the Tunisians.
"All
this is happening because of one person (Tunisian president) and some
mercenaries who are serving his continued catastrophe by setting a constitution
fit for illegitimate and inefficient man," Marzouki added.
Tunisia
has been in the throes of a deep political crisis since July 25, 2021, when
Saied dismissed the government, suspended parliament, and assumed executive
authority, in a move decried by opponents as a “coup.”
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/tunisias-ex-president-warns-against-fighting-among-tunisians/2580234
--------
Al-Shabaab
Terrorists Attack Ethiopian Troops In Somalia
Mohammed
Dhaysane
05.05.2022
MOGADISHU,
Somalia
Casualties
are feared as two roadside blasts targeted an Ethiopian military convoy in
Somalia's southwestern Gedo region on Thursday, a security official said.
The
attack took place between the towns of Luq and Shatalow, the official said,
adding that investigation has been initiated.
Witnesses
told Anadolu Agency the attacks were followed by heavy firefight between
Ethiopian forces and al-Shabaab terrorists, who claimed responsibility for the
attack.
The
bombing comes a day after the group attacked African Union peacekeepers at a
camp near the village of El Baraf in central Somalia, killing over 2 dozen
Burundian soldiers.
The
AU has been fighting al-Shabaab since it arrived in Somalia in 2007.
The
al-Qaeda affiliated group has also launched deadly attacks in Somalia and the
wider region.
Somalia
is preparing to hold a long-delayed presidential election this month, well over
a year behind schedule due to deadly violence and a power struggle between
President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed and Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Jordan
central bank raises interest rates
05
May ,2022
Jordan’s
central bank raised the main interest rates by 50 basis points in line with a
move by the US Federal Reserve in the face of inflation at highs not seen in
decades, a bank official said on Thursday.
The
move will take effect on Sunday after the end of a long Muslim Eid holiday.
Jordan’s currency is pegged to the dollar.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2022/05/05/Jordan-central-bank-raises-interest-rates
--------
Turkiye
aims to further deepen its ties with continental Africa: Foreign minister
Muhammet
Tarhan and Mehmet Sah Yilmaz
05.05.2022
ANKARA
Turkiye
plans to improve its relations with the African continent, and take tangible
steps to deepen ties with regional organizations such as the African Union and
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the country’s foreign
minister said on Thursday.
Mevlut
Cavusoglu’s remarks came at a joint news conference held in the capital Ankara
with his Liberian counterpart Dee-Maxwell Saah Kemayah.
They
discussed all aspects of bilateral ties, developments in Africa, security
issues, and the Russia-Ukraine war, Cavusoglu said.
The
measures against FETO -- the terror group behind the defeated coup of 2016 in
Turkiye -- and the situation of Turkish companies in Liberia were also
discussed during the meeting, he added.
"We
will further deepen our relations with African countries, the African Union,
and regional organizations such as ECOWAS," he said. "We will take
more tangible steps on many issues in the period ahead."
Cavusoglu
noted that it is of great importance to sign an agreement on economic
cooperation to achieve the goals, adding that the drafts in this regard would
be ready within a month.
The
two countries have also begun negotiations on a memorandum of understanding on
the defense industry, he said, noting that they also boost their cooperation in
training special forces, and the fight against terrorism and organized crime.
He
said there was a wide range of areas for cooperation, including the tourism and
finance sectors, and several Turkish companies were ready to invest in the
energy sector of Liberia.
With
their bilateral relations growing at a quick pace, Turkiye has already started
works to build an embassy in the Liberian capital on instructions of President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, he noted, saying Ankara was ready to provide all kinds of
assistance to Liberia, which plans to open its own embassy in the Turkish
capital.
The
Turkish minister welcomed Liberia's support to fight the FETO terror group by
taking over its schools, and said Turkiye's Maarif Foundation could open new
schools in the country or take the responsibility of schools taken over from
the group.
Cavusoglu
also commented on discussions about Frontex, the border agency of the EU, which
has been under fire recently for allegedly taking part in illegal pushbacks of
irregular migrants.
Responding
to a question on the withholding of the Frontex budget on its role in the Greek
pushback of migrants, he said Turkish authorities had already shared evidence
showing how Greece pushed back irregular migrants on Aegean islands and Turkish
borders.
"This
is because some part of the budget was used for pushback of migrants. The
Frontex did not only watch this, it also bore witness and participated in these
inhumane practices. The withholding of the budget and resignation of the
executive director do not acquit the Frontex,” he said, and underlined that the
pushbacks resulted in deaths of migrants on certain occasions.
He
further noted that both Greece and the Frontex, and accordingly the EU, had
responsibility for the death of migrants and that Turkish authorities were
willing to share documents and information on pushbacks if the European courts
were to investigate the matter sincerely.
Kemayah,
for his part, said the bilateral relations have gained momentum in the recent
years and that he met Cavusoglu five times in the past year alone.
“We
have said that we wanted to further advance our bilateral ties and strengthen
our bond,” he said and noted that the diplomatic relations between the two
countries were relatively new but were promising.
The
foreign minister of Liberia said his country was ready to cooperate in fighting
terrorism and he was glad that they would be collaborating closely with Turkiye
in this regard.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
URL: