Hindu Outfit, Hindu Dharma Sena, Announces Rewards For Hindu Boys Who Marry Muslim Girls
New Age Islam News Bureau
17June 2023
Hindu Dharma
Sena President Yogesh Agrawal
-----
India
• ‘Hindu-Muslim DNA The Same, BJP Must
Be Inclusive’: BJP Leader Bhaskar Rao
• UP Govt To Take Action Against Those
Converting Girls Under Love Jihad, Say ADG Law and Order
• Filmmaker Ali Akbar, Who Renounced
Islam And Changed His Name To Ramasimhan, Quits BJP
• 'Ramcharitmanas Was Written In
Mosque': RJD MLA's Bizarre Claim Sparks Row
• A message of communal harmony,
amplified through a Kerala mosque's loudspeaker
• 1 dead, 174 held as mob, cops clash
near Gujarat mosque
• Stone pelting near mosque over anti-encroachment
drive
• In Goa, Savarkar grandson calls for
trade boycott of Muslims
• 4 booked for conversions to Hinduism,
Islam in Uttarakhand
--------
Mideast
• Palestinian Leader Abbas Ends China
Trip After Backing Beijing’s Suppression of Muslim Minorities
• Archaeologists unearth Iron Age,
pre-Islamic artefacts in Abu Dhabi including weapons
• Al-Azhar Sheikh calls to protect
Al-Aqsa Mosque, end absurd wars in Arab region
• DCT discoveries reveal sites and
artefacts from Iron Age and Pre-Islamic Period
--------
Arab World
• New mobile info centre to promote
Riyadh’s Sports Boulevard project
• Saudi medical team saves life of Iraqi
Hajj pilgrim in Makkah
• Turkish Embassy hosts Ottoman motifs
painting workshop
--------
Europe
• Ukrainian agriculture will need two
decades to recover – report
• Zelensky offers zero flexibility to
African leaders
• Ilya Fabrichnikov: Why I disagree with
the call for Russia to use its nuclear weapons against the West
• ‘Choosing Riyadh to host Expo 2030
would be smart and visionary,’ former French Culture Minister Jack Lang tells
Arab News en Francais
--------
North America
• Muslim World League Launches
Initiative To ‘Build Bridges Of Understanding’ Between East And West
• ‘Washington Post’ takes aim at
Palestinian Islamic Jihad … and misses
• Michigan man gets 14 years in prison
for fighting for Islamic State
--------
Africa
• Allied Democratic Forces Militants
Kill 25, Abduct Others In Attack On Ugandan School, Police And Military Say
• Farooq Kperogi: Did Kashim Shettima
Transform From “Boko Haram Sponsor” To Anti-Muslim Muslim?
• Shettima Apologises To Muslims Over
Controversial Comment On Choice Of NASS Presiding Officers
--------
Pakistan
• Pakistani Journalists Should Be
Allowed To 'Do Their Work': US State Dept
• Washington Honours Pakistani Police
Officer, Zaheer Ahmed, As Anti-Trafficking Hero
• Shehbaz wants to see Nawaz become PM
for fourth time
• ‘Stronger foreign ties essential for
solving domestic issues’
• Shadman Police Station attack: Yasmin
Rashid, 11 others denied post-arrest bail
• Sanaullah doesn't see PTI chief's role
in national politics anymore
• Bilawal warns against forging
‘military alliances’
--------
South Asia
• Pakistan to Relocate TTP Members to
Western Afghanistan: Sources
• Acting Head of Central Bank Meets with
Chinese Ambassador
• Kabulov's Remarks About Afghan
Ambassador at Russian Embassy
• Daesh in Afghanistan Gets 'External
Support': Moscow
--------
Southeast Asia
• Anwar: Govt allocates RM8.9 mln to
assist Islamic education institutions in Kedah
• Hajj: Siblings visit father’s grave in
Makkah after seven years
• Malaysian pilgrims grateful for smooth
Makkah Route journey, Saudi hospitality
• Shahidan withdraws from contest for
DPMM presidency
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL:
https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/hindu-outfit-dharma-sena-muslim/d/130017
-------
Hindu Outfit, Hindu Dharma Sena, Announces Rewards For Hindu Boys Who Marry Muslim Girls
Hindu Dharma
Sena President Yogesh Agrawal
-----
June 16, 2023
A right-wing religious outfit, Hindu
Dharma Sena, has announced that it would give a cash reward of Rs 11,000 to
every Hindu boy who elopes with a Muslim girl and marries her.
Hindu Dharma Sena President Yogesh
Agrawal on Friday said in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh the outfit would help the
Hindu boys in their endeavour to get married to Muslim girls. He said the
organisation would also help such boys financially by paying them Rs 11,000
cash.
Agrawal alleged that Muslim boys were
indulging in “Love Jihad” and running away with Hindu girls. Calling it a very
worrisome trend, he said the ratio of girls was in any case low as compared to
boys in the Hindu society. The situation was further aggravated due to the “Love
Jihad” by Muslim boys.
The right-wing activist asserted that it
was necessary to bring Muslim girls to Hindu families. He pointed out that the
outfit was supporting love between Hindu boys and Muslim girls and would help
them only if they wanted to get married.
The Hindu Dharma Sena’s announcement has
come at a time when a national debate is already raging over the issue of “Love
Jihad”.
The BJP and RSS have openly come out
against the issue and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has
publicly repeated on several occasions that the ruling BJP government would not
tolerate “Love Jihad” at any cost.
On the contrary, a few days ago some
Muslim youth were booked by the police in Indore on charges of pasting and
distributing objectionable pamphlets cautioning young unmarried Muslim girls to
beware of being converted to Hinduism through the ‘Bhagwa love trap’ conspiracy
being carried out by the RSS and Bajrang Dal.
Source: thestatesman.com
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.thestatesman.com/india/hindu-outfit-announces-reward-for-hindu-boys-to-marry-muslim-girls-1503190718.html
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Muslims Should Avoid Emotional Reactions
To The Uniform Civil Code
Translated by New Age Islam Edit Bureau
June 17, 2023
Senior journalist Shahid Siddiqui
advised to present arguments against it in a strong manner before the Law
Commission and said that the Uniform Civil Code is not only a problem for
Muslims and we should not get caught in a political trap.
------
New Delhi (Inquilab Bureau) Senior
journalist and politician Shahid Siddiqui has appealed Muslims to avoid
emotional reaction to the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code in the
country by the Law Commission.
In a conversation with the
representative of the Inquilab, Urdu Daily, he said that we are against the
Uniform Civil Code until a draft comes before us and we do not support it. How
can we say whether it is right or wrong, because even five years ago, the 21st
Law Commission sought the opinion of all religions, castes, castes and people
of the country. After this opinion, the commission had said in its report that
there is no need for a uniform civil code in India. Now this opinion is being
sought again, which we have no objection to. He said that the Law Commission
will then come to the same conclusion that there is no need for a uniform civil
code in the country, as it is very important to respect diversity to keep the
country united. As far as the Uniform Civil Code is concerned, it is not a
sectarian issue, but all religions will be affected by it.
Shahid Siddiqui appealed to the Muslims
not to let it become a Hindu-Muslim problem, because that is what one section
of the country wants and so there are political motives behind it.
He said that "We neither oppose nor
support it, but we have to wait for what the report of the Law Commission says,
we should put our opinion firmly before the Law Commission." He urged the
Muslims attending debates on TV channels to be careful as TV channels would try
to incite hatred through it.
Shahid Siddiqui also advised not to go
to TV debates and said that even if you go, don't get into any debate on the
Uniform Civil Code and say clearly that we neither support the Uniform Civil
Code nor oppose it. We will wait for the Law Commission draft. He said that
even five years ago, legal experts had reached the conclusion that there is no
need for a Uniform Civil Code in the country.
There is no uniform civil code in
America, despite this, America is a powerful and united country.
Therefore, we should neither act on
emotions nor express anger. He said that extreme prudence should be exercised
in this matter because an attempt will be made to take political advantage out
of it.
Source: Inquilab
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original
Courtesy: Inquilab, New Delhi, June 17,
2023
-----
Cameras And Artificial Intelligence:
Islamic Republic’s High Tech Plans To Enforce Hijab
Women
wearing the hijab at the Imam Khomeini mosque in Tehran. Photograph: Morteza
Nikoubazl/NurPhoto/Rex/Shutterstock
-------
JUNE 16, 2023
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has
endorsed increasing the number of surveillance cameras used to identify women
who defy mandatory hijab rules, choosing not to wear the headscarf in public,
the Islamic Republic's police commander said on Thursday.
The move comes amid escalating pressure
from the Islamic Republic to enforce mandatory hijab and to use artificial
intelligence to identify women seen without headscarves.
Ahmadreza Radan, speaking on Thursday,
June 15, in relation to the "detection of hijab through cameras,” said the
police force had requested the government to enhance the "coverage
level" of surveillance cameras.
He also announced that Raisi has
expressed his agreement with the proposal, "raising hopes for the
allocation of funds in the near future."
According to Radan, the implementation
of the project aims to maximize security on various fronts.
In its initial phase, the system will
send reminder SMS notifications to individuals found to be violating hijab.
Subsequently, follow-up SMS messages will be issued for "judicial and law
enforcement" purposes.
Previously, Radan had issued a warning
that the police force would use CCTV cameras and smart systems in cities across
Iran to identify women not adhering to mandatory hijab.
Women who persistently appear without
hijab would then be referred to the courts.
For more than 40 years, women in Iran
have been subjected to discriminatory treatment regarding employment,
education, clothing and inheritance, among other areas.
All women in public spaces in Iran must
conceal their hair with a headscarf, or hijab, and wear loose fitting trousers
under their coats.
In an act of defiance against the
ideology and laws of the Islamic Republic, a growing number of women, including
celebrities, have appeared in public without head coverings since nationwide
protests began last year. Iranian authorities have unleashed a brutal crackdown
on the anti-government demonstrations, which were sparked by the September
death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of morality police. Amini had
been arrested for allegedly wearing a hijab improperly.
Activists say more than 520 people have
been killed and over 20,000 others have been detained in connection with the
protests so far.
Following unlawful detentions and biased
trials, the judiciary has handed down stiff sentences, including the death
penalty, to protesters.
Source: iranwire.com
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://iranwire.com/en/news/117594-cameras-and-ai-islamic-republics-high-tech-plans-to-enforce-hijab/
--------
Saudi Astronauts Rayyanah Barnawi, Ali
Alqarni Back In The Kingdom After Successful Space Mission
Saudi
astronauts Rayyanah Barnawi and Ali al-Qarni return to the Kingdom. (SPA)
-------
June 17, 2023
RIYADH: Saudi astronauts Ali Alqarni,
Rayyanah Barnawi, Mariam Fardous, and Ali Al-Ghamdi have returned to the
Kingdom Saturday morning after a successful scientific mission at the
International Space Station.
Alqarni and Barnawi – the first Arab
woman to orbit Earth – returned to Earth on May 31 after an eight-day stay at
the space station where they performed 14 research projects on microgravity,
three of which were kite experiments with 12,000 school students from 47
locations across the Kingdom via satellite.
The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying
them, as well as American astronauts Peggy Whitson John Shoffner, parachuted
down onto the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Panama City, Florida, after a
12-hour return flight and re-entry through the Earth’s atmosphere.
The scientific mission will be of
significant benefit to humanity and will ensure the Kingdom leading roles and
an avant-garde position in space exploration, a statement from the Saudi Space
Agency noted during the astronauts’ arrival at King Khaled International
Airport.
The agency also said that the leading
achievements and contributions of the Saudi space mission are a source of pride
for the nation all with the support of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin
Abdulaziz, the statement added.
Source: arabnews.com
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2323086/saudi-arabia
--------
UN Rapporteur Report Spotlights Islamic
Emirate Edicts Regarding Women
UN special
rapporteur for Afghanistan Richard Bennett
------
16-06-23
According to the report, between
September 2021 and May 2023, more than 50 edicts were issued regarding women
and girls by the Islamic Emirate, which has "deprived Afghan women of the
right to education, work, and participation in social and political life."
“One of the most illustrative examples
of the systematic discrimination against women and girls in Afghanistan today
is the relentless issuance of edicts, decrees, declarations and directives
restricting their rights, including their freedom of movement, attire and
behaviour, and their access to education, work, health and justice,” the report
reads.
Among the topics covered in this report
are the issue of education, suicides, depression, forced marriages, and the
sale of children in Afghanistan.
“In their totality, the edicts
significantly limit women’s and girls’ ability to engage in society, have
access to basic services and to earn a living,” the report further stated.
"we need women who are doctors,
engineers, lawyers, and advocates for the rights of each and every person in
this society,” said AlamtabRAsouli, a women’s rights activist.
According to the report, a number of
protesting women were released from the Islamic Emirate prisons under the
condition of stopping the street protests.
However, the Islamic Emirate called this
report unfair and baseless and added that the Islamic and cultural values of
Afghanistan have been ignored in this report.
According to the Islamic Emirate's
spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, women have good positions in the Islamic
Emirate and attempts are being made to hire them in the fields where they are
needed.
"We don't consider this report fair
and correct because they didn't consider the facts. They just tried to repeat
some things for the purpose of propaganda without considering the cultural,
religious and Islamic values and the environment of Afghanistan. They might
think that Afghanistan is like one of the Western countries, where women are
doing what they call their rights, it is not the same here in Afghanistan,”
Mujahid noted.
"Women's rights must be upheld in
order to address social problems and bring about peace, progress, and
stability,” said Sayed JavadSajaddi, a university lecturer.
The Special Rapporteur and the Working
Group interviewed a total of 79 Afghans (67 women and 12 men), of whom 63 (51
women and 12 men) were inside Afghanistan. They included human rights defenders,
journalists, lawyers, academics, entrepreneurs, teachers, students, social
service providers and businesswomen. In addition, they conducted a survey of
2,112 Afghan women across 18 provinces in March 2023, and drew on the insights
of a further 159 women focus group participants on the survey results in 11
provinces.
The special rapporteur is expected to
present this report on Monday at the meeting of the United Nations Human Rights
Council.
Source: tolonews.com
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-183800
--------
India
‘Hindu-Muslim DNA The Same, BJP Must Be
Inclusive’: BJP Leader Bhaskar Rao
17th June 2023
By Bansy Kalappa
BENGALURU: With the 2024 Lok Sabha
elections coming up on the horizon, former top cop and BJP leader Bhaskar Rao
said the party should be more inclusive and take Muslims along. He was speaking
at a recent BJP meeting where party general secretary Arun Singh was present.
The former police commissioner’s opinion
is in sharp contrast with the agenda of polarisation adopted by the BJP, on
which the party largely depends for its electoral victories. Sources said that
most BJP leaders spoke about petty issues like insufficient grants, or that
transfer requests had not been complied with. It was Rao who took a different
line, and when he spoke, senior party leader and former chief minister B S
Yediyurappa — who has been credited with building the party in Karnataka —
was making notes.
Rao said that Muslims need to be accommodated
in the BJP, and citing the ancient Sanskrit phrase Vasudaiva Kutumbakam (the world is one family), said the DNA of
both communities is the same.
His statement came at a meeting the
party held to introspect the poll debacle, and make suggestions for the general
elections. Rao suggested that the party should have a special general
secretary-level office-bearer with a special assignment to wrest Congress and
JDS strongholds like Sarvagnanagar, Pulakeshinagar, Shivajinagar, BTM Layout,
Shantinagar and Gandhinagar. While there are BJP Karyakartas in all these
areas, they need to work effectively to help increase the party’s vote share.
Rao told TNIE that when the CAA-NRC
protests were going on, then CM Yediyurappa had instructed him (Rao) to ensure
that no one was hurt or injured. This appears to be a new language in the BJP
because its critics have always maintained that the party is pursuing a
“communal and hate agenda”. In the saffron spectrum, Bhaskar Rao and
Yediyurappa are at one end, while those who make shrill noises of lynchings,
community boycotts and bans are at the other end. The BJP will be looking to
take everyone along as it heads into the Lok Sabha elections.
IPS officer Bhaskar Rao, who shifted
from AAP to BJP recently, contested from Chamarajpet and lost. Asked if he was
looking at contesting the Lok Sabha election, he said it is for the party to
decide.
Source: newindianexpress.com
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/karnataka/2023/jun/17/hindu-muslim-dna-the-same-bjp-must-be-inclusivebhaskar-rao-2585836.html
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UP Govt To Take Action Against Those
Converting Girls Under Love Jihad, Say ADG Law and Order
Jun 16, 2023
Speaking on the love jihad case in Uttar
Pradesh, ADG Law and Order of Uttar Pradesh Prashant Kumar said the government
is determined to take action against those who are forcing girls to convert
under love jihad. “The law of conversion is applicable in UP from November 27,
2020. The act which was brought by the government is being strictly followed.
The government is determined to take action in cases where people hide their
religion and identity and force a girl to convert under the ambit of love
jihad,” said ADG Law and Order Prashant Kumar on love jihad cases in the state.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/city/lucknow/up-govt-to-take-action-against-those-converting-girls-under-love-jihad-say-police/videoshow/101050129.cms
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Filmmaker Ali Akbar, who renounced Islam
and changed his name to Ramasimhan, quits BJP
June 16, 2023
Malayalam filmmaker and Sangh Parivar
fellow traveller RamasimhanAboobakker announced that he has quit the BJP.
Ramasimhan, as he is widely known after
he renounced Islam in December 2021 and changed his name from Ali Akbar to
RamasimhanAboobakker, was a state committee member of the BJP till he resigned
all his organisational responsibilities in the saffron party in 2021.
The PuzhaMuthalPuzhavare director said
there was no need to create any fuss about his decision as he is not going
anywhere and would move with the "dharma" that he has learned.
In a Facebook post on Thursday,
Ramasimhan said he is "freed from everything. Only with one thing, with
Dharma."
The director is the third film
personality to quit the BJP in the past two weeks in Kerala. Earlier, Malayalam
director Rajasenan and actor Bhiman Raghu had announced their decision to leave
the saffron party and work with the ruling CPI(M).
BJP state president K. Surendran termed
the development as "unfortunate" and said the party will examine the
decisions of the film personalities who were associated with it.
He said the BJP state unit was not in a
position to distribute powers to all. Surendran, however, said people are
joining the BJP daily from other parties and organisations.
Ramasimhan said it has been a few days
since he resigned. "Now it came out, that's all... It was now realised
that if one wants to move with dharma, there should be no ties, so the ties
were untied. That's it," he explained in another post on Friday.
In another post carrying a photo of
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the filmmaker clarified that there is no question
of leaving him and nobody needs to think so.
Sources said Ramasimhan decided to quit
the BJP in protest against the style of functioning of the BJP state
leadership.
It was evident from Ramasimhan's latest
Facebook post, which quoted a statement of Surendran indirectly snubbing his
latest film, PuzhaMuthalPuzhaVare, based on the Malabar rebellion, also called
the Moplah riot, that took place in north Kerala in 1921.
In October 2021, the
director-turned-politician resigned from all responsibilities in the BJP,
including as a state committee member, as he was "pained" by the
Kerala unit's organisational-level action against a Muslim BJP leader in
Kerala. Akbar (as he was known then), however, had said he would continue as a
member of the BJP.
In an emotional Facebook post, he had
said it was very difficult for the common man to understand the kind of
humiliations and abuses being faced by a Muslim, from his own family and
community, while working for the BJP.
Source: theweek.in
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.theweek.in/news/entertainment/2023/06/16/filmmaker-ali-akbar-who-renounced-islam-and-changed-his-name-to-ramasimhan-quits-bjp.html
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'Ramcharitmanas was written in mosque':
RJD MLA's bizarre claim sparks row
Jun 16, 2023
Rohit Kumar Singh
By Rohit Kumar Singh: Rashtriya Janata
Dal (RJD) leader and MLA Ritlal Yadav on Thursday ignited a fresh political row
with his controversial comments regarding 'Ramcharitmanas'.
During a discussion on the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) and Hindutva, Yadav made a contentious statement, asking,
"Was Hindutva not in danger when Ramcharitmanas was being written inside a
mosque?"
An RJD MLA from Danapur constituency,
Yadav, has been booked under several cases of murder and knapping. He did not
stop there and further asked, "Wasn’t Hindutva in danger when Mughals were
ruling?”
Condemning Yadav's remarks, BJP
spokesperson Arvind Kumar Singh said, “Everybody knows where Ramcharitmans was
written by Tulsidas.”
"Maybe since Nitish Kumar had taken
admission to Lalu Prasad's herdsman school, then Ramayana must have been
written in the mosque," he said.
This incident follows a previous
controversy involving another RJD leader and cabinet minister in Nitish Kumar's
government, Chandra Shekhar. Earlier this year, Shekhar made controversial
comments about Ramcharitmanas, claiming that the Hindu religious book, which is
based on the Ramayana, "spreads hatred in society."
"Ramcharitmanas was opposed because
it said that the lower section of society becomes poisonous if they get
educated. Books like Ramcharitmanas, Manusmriti and MS Golwalkar’s Bunch of
Thoughts created a social divide," the minister said in January this year
while addressing the convocation of Nalanda Open University.
Source: indiatoday.in
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/ramcharitmanas-mosque-mughals-rjd-mla-bjp-2394004-2023-06-16
--------
A message of communal harmony, amplified
through a Kerala mosque's loudspeaker
June 16, 2023
It will not be the muezzin's call to
prayer alone that will be broadcast from the loudspeaker of the Thattuparambu
Juma Masjid near Muvattupuzha.
Last April, in what can be seen as a
revolutionary break from orthodox conventions, the Jamaat Committee unanimously
decided to use the masjid's loudspeaker to relay the news of deaths in the
area.
The first such death was announced by
the imam of the mosque, Muhammad Faisal Baqavi, on midnight of June 13, and it
was that of a Hindu: ThattumparambilKuttappan.
Kuttappan (75) was the first to die in
the area after the decision was taken.
The name of the deceased, his address,
age and time of death were announced through the loudspeaker. The announcement
was made three times so that no one missed out.
The mosque is in Paipragrama panchayat,
in Paipra East Ward, five kilometres from Muvattupuzha town.
Jamaat president Abdul Kabeer was amused
when Onmanorama gave him a call. "The Jamaat Committee did not take the
decision thinking it was radical or revolutionary. We just thought it would be
of great help to the neighbourhood if there was such a facility," said
Kabeer, a teacher.
He seemed a bit taken aback by the
interest shown by the media. "We had no inkling that this would be
news," he said.
Nonetheless, Kabeer is aware that the
decision is unique. He knows that no other Jamaat in Kerala has used a mosque
under it for a secular purpose like announcing local deaths.
Still, he is not anticipating any
backlash from within the community. He has not even thought of such a
possibility. "We did not arrive at this decision after an intense debate
among our community members. In
fact, we did not feel any need to
deliberate hard on the matter. Nor did anything happen in the panchayat that
made us think along these lines. We just thought that it would be helpful for
all of us living here. Nothing more," Kabeer said.
The Jamaat's decision might also seem
unnecessary in an era of mobiles. "We know that people can get in touch
with each other over phones and that tools like WhatsApp can spread messages
faster than ever before," Kabeer said. "But we also realised that
even this will be confined to groups, not to the whole people in the
area," he said.
The loudspeaker can reach homes within a
two-kilometre radius of the mosque, covering within its range wards like
Paipra, Paipra East, Thattuparamba and Pezhakappilly. There are over 450
households in each of these wards. Meaning, the loudspeaker can convey the message
to nearly 2,000 households.
"We also thought that this way we
can also quickly mobilise local help for the grieving family," Kabeer
said.
The deaths in the wards near the mosque
will be announced by the mosque authorities on their own. But if there is a
death in a place far away from the mosque, and if the family wants an
announcement to be made, the members will have to approach the mosque and make
a request. "This family would have relatives in our area. If they ask us
for an announcement we will do it after verifying the authenticity of their
request," Kabeer said.
Not just deaths, the imam or other
senior functionaries of the mosque would make an announcement if there are
other emergencies, too. "Say if there is an accident and there is a need
for blood. An announcement will be made," Kabeer said.
Source: onmanorama.com
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.onmanorama.com/news/kerala/2023/06/16/communal-harmony-kerala-mosque-loudspeaker-relays-death-news-hindu-neighbour-muvattupuzha.html
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1 dead, 174 held as mob, cops clash near
Gujarat mosque
JUN 17 2023
One person was killed and 174 others
were detained after a violent protest broke out between a mob and police in
Gujarat's Junagadh over an anti-encroachment operation.
The protest on Friday night reportedly
erupted in connection to an eviction notice served by the Junagadh Municipal
Corporation to a local mosque, demanding for document submission within five
days.
The notice was in relation to illegal
construction allegations made against the mosque.
Due to a lack of response from the
mosque after the five-day period, the Corporation proceeded with its action.
As a team from the Municipal Corporation
arrived at the site to issue a demolition notice on Friday evening, a crowd of
approximately 500 to 600 people gathered in opposition.
Junagadh Superintendent of Police, Ravi
TejaVasamsetty stated that the situation escalated at around 10.15 p.m. when
the crowd began pelting stones at the police and set several vehicles ablaze.
To control the rapidly deteriorating
situation, the police were forced to resort to lathi charge.
'Police personnel got injured in this
incident. A total of 174 people have been rounded up. A civilian has died prima
facie due to stone pelting but it will be clear after the post-mortem report.
Further investigation underway,' said Vasamsetty.
Following the outbreak of violence, a
large reinforcement of police officers was deployed to the area to restore
order and control the situation.
On May 27, 2023, local officials in
Junagadh had executed a removal operation targeting unlawful encroachments,
despite protests.
A total of 176 illegal mazars, along
with 18 additional religious sites, have been dismantled to date.
A total of 176 illegal mazars, along
with 18 additional religious sites, have been dismantled to date.
Local sources note that about eight
bulldozers were brought in to facilitate the removal operation within the
Uparkot section of the city.
The operation comes in line with the
state government's decision to refurbish the Uparkot Fort in Junagadh, an
initiative projected to cost Rs 70 crore.
Source: deccanherald.com
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https://www.deccanherald.com/national/west/1-dead-174-held-as-mob-cops-clash-near-gujarat-mosque-1228507.html
----------
Stone pelting near mosque over
anti-encroachment drive
JUN 17 2023
An incident of stone pelting left cops
injured during a mob protest against the anti-encroachment drive in Gujarat's
Junagadh Friday night, ANI reports.
The Junagadh Municipal Corporation
issued a notice to a mosque near Majewadi Gate to provide the documents within
5 days.
Stones pelted, cops injured after a mob
protest against the anti-encroachment drive in Gujarat's Junagadh
A civilian appears to have died as a
result of stone pelting, but things are to be further clarified after the
postmortem. Further investigations are under way, said Ravi TejaVasamsetty, SP
Junagadh.
Source: deccanherald.com
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https://www.deccanherald.com/national/west/slovakian-german-ecologists-pedal-to-mumbais-wildlife-research-centre-1228505.html
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In Goa, Savarkar grandson calls for
trade boycott of Muslims
Stating that policies of “economic
warfare” had assumed importance today, Ranjit asked Hindu seers to tell their
followers to eat only ‘jhatka’ meat so that “our money” does not go to Muslim
butchers.
Written by Pavneet Singh Chadha
June 17, 2023
Panaji, VD Savarkar, Vinayak Damodar
Savarkar, goa news, Indian Express, India news, current affairs, trade boycott
of Muslims“The campaign should be that we will not trade with Islam. Trade will
be between Hindus...,” he added.
Urging people to vote for parties that
“promote interests of Hindus”, V D Savarkar’s grandson on Friday called for an
economic boycott of the Muslim community and exhorted Hindus to carry out “only
Hindu-to-Hindu” trade.
Ranjit Savarkar was speaking at the
inauguration of a six-day ‘Vaishvik Hindu Rashtra Mahotsav’ being held in
Ponda, Goa. The event has been organised by Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, which is
allied to Sanatan Sanstha, a radical group whose members were accused in the
murder of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar in Pune in 2013.
Stating that policies of “economic
warfare” had assumed importance today, Ranjit asked Hindu seers to tell their
followers to eat only ‘jhatka’ meat so that “our money” does not go to Muslim
butchers.
Source: indianexpress.com
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https://indianexpress.com/article/india/in-goa-savarkar-grandson-calls-for-trade-boycott-of-muslims-8668053/
--------
4 booked for conversions to Hinduism,
Islam in Uttarakhand
Jun 17, 2023
DEHRADUN: A day after Uttarakhand police
said they would track down forceful conversion cases in the state, two separate
cases were registered against four people under the Uttarakhand Freedom of
Religion Act on Friday. In the first case, police booked a man and his two
accomplices for allegedly forcefully converting a 26-year-old Muslim woman and
her two sons, aged eight & three, to Hinduism and then later forcing her to
marry a Hindu man in Dehradun. In another case, cops booked an unidentified
person for “influencing a Hindu man on an online platform to convert to Islam
and offer namaz”.
The first incident happened in the Nehru
Colony area of Dehradun on Thursday.
According to the FIR, of which TOI has a
copy, the woman was already married. Her husband was in jail with the accused,
Rajendra Panwar and she met him when visiting her husband. Panwar was released
from jail recently. On June 2, he took the woman and the children to Jogiwala.
On June 11, he made the trio convert to Hinduism. He then allegedly forced her
to marry him.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/dehradun/4-booked-for-conversions-to-hinduism-islam-in-uttarakhand/articleshow/101053287.cms
--------
Mideast
Palestinian Leader Abbas Ends China Trip
After Backing Beijing’s Suppression of Muslim Minorities
June 16, 2023
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas wrapped
up a trip to China Friday after seeking economic aid and voicing support for
Beijing’s repressive policies toward Muslim minorities in the northwestern
region of Xinjiang.
During his four-day visit, Abbas met
with head of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Xi Jinping. The leaders
then issued a joint statement endorsing Beijing’s domestic and foreign policies
and repudiating Western concepts of human rights.
In the statement, the Palestinian
Authority said issues regarding the CCP’s policy toward Muslims in Xinjiang
have “nothing to do with human rights and are aimed at excising extremism and
opposing terrorism and separatism.”
That echoes Chinese propaganda
surrounding the detention of more than 1 million Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other
Muslim minorities in prison-like detention centers on little or no legal
grounds—often merely for having a relative studying abroad or downloading the
Koran onto their phones.
According to estimates from researchers,
the CCP has detained more than one million Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities
in internment camps in Xinjiang, where they are subjected to torture, rape, forced
labor, and political indoctrination by the CCP.
In 2020, the Trump administration
declared the CCP’s repression of Uyghurs a genocide. The declaration was later
echoed by nearly a dozen parliaments, including in the European Union, the
United Kingdom, and Canada.
The CCP says the widely-documented
complex of heavily-guarded centers were intended to purge radicalism spread
over the internet and provide vocational training—and have now been shut down.
Critics say many have been turned into prisons.
The CCP has campaigned furiously to
counter the outside criticism, and in the competition for resources and
markets, Arab states have almost never openly expressed concern over Beijing’s
treatment of Muslims.
The Associated Press contributed to this
report.
Source: theepochtimes.com
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https://www.theepochtimes.com/palestinian-leader-abbas-ends-china-trip-after-backing-beijings-suppression-of-muslim-minorities_5330275.html
--------
Archaeologists unearth Iron Age,
pre-Islamic artefacts in Abu Dhabi including weapons
17-06-23
Archaeologists in Abu Dhabi have made a
number of archaeological discoveries, including artefacts such as swords and
ceramics, from the Iron Age and pre-Islamic period, state-run news agency WAM
reported on Saturday.
Archaeologists made the discoveries -
from the period of around 1300 BCE to 600 CE - following the excavation of a
late pre-Islamic (300 BCE – 300 CE) cemetery, which was found during road
upgrades in the Shaabiyaneighborhood in downtown Al Ain, east of the Al Ain
Museum.
Around 20 graves were recorded in the
cemetery, with “exceptionally well-preserved” objects including amphorae (a
type of jug), bronze bowls and other ceramics, WAM reported. Archaeologists
also found weapons including spears, arrows and swords.
“The existence of a cemetery suggests a
settlement of the same period was probably located nearby,” the WAM report
said.
Diggers made other finds in the areas of
Al Ain, Khrais, Qattara and Hili, including an Iron Age cemetery with a
monumental stone tomb and at least 35 graves. They also discovered another area
with pre-Islamic tombs and a cache of iron weaponry.
The archaeologists also discovered
irrigation systems and agricultural plots which show that “something that we
think of as relevant to the recent past of Al Ain, has in fact a very long
history,” according to WAM.
Other objects found include jewelry and
shells. The report did not mention when the artefacts were found.
Source: english.alarabiya.net
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https://english.alarabiya.net/News/gulf/2023/06/17/Archaeologists-unearth-Iron-Age-pre-Islamic-artefacts-in-Abu-Dhabi-including-weapons
--------
Al-Azhar Sheikh calls to protect Al-Aqsa
Mosque, end absurd wars in Arab region
June 16, 2023
The Sheikh of Al-Azhar, Dr Ahmed
El-Tayeb, has called to provide protection for the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the
Occupied city of Jerusalem and to put an end to the absurd wars raging in the
Arab region.
Speaking before the UN Security Council
virtual meeting on Wednesday, Al-Tayeb said "the crises that beset the
modern man would not have occurred if modern civilisation and contemporary
culture" had not neglected religion and its teaching.
Sheikh El-Tayeb has denied accusations
levelled against the Islamic religion as a "religion of the sword"
"unfair" and "baseless", adding that Islam is not
responsible for "terrorism" but, rather, the policies of global
domination, materialistic philosophies and economic doctrines that disguise the
rules of morality.
El-Tayeb has also regretted the
international community's silence on the violations committed against the
Palestinian people and their rights, stressing on the need to provide
protection to the Palestinian people.
He called on the Security Council and
the international community to "accelerate, today before tomorrow, the
establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its
capital, and to provide protection for Al-Aqsa Mosque from the [Israeli] violations".
El-Tayeb has also called for an end to
the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war.
Source: middleeastmonitor.com
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https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230616-al-azhar-sheikh-calls-to-protect-al-aqsa-mosque-end-absurd-wars-in-arab-region/
--------
DCT discoveries reveal sites and
artefacts from Iron Age and Pre-Islamic Period
Sat 17-06-2023
ABU DHABI, 16th June, 2023 (WAM) -- The
Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) has revealed
several significant new archaeological discoveries in the emirate, including
sites and artefacts from the Iron Age and the Pre-Islamic period – covering a
time span from approximately 1300 BCE to 600 CE.
DCT Abu Dhabi’s archaeologists unearthed
significant finds during rescue excavations of part of a Late Pre-Islamic (300
BCE-300 CE) cemetery encountered during the upgrading of roads and
infrastructure in the old neighbourhood (Shaabiya) of Kuwaitat in downtown Al
Ain, east of Al Ain Museum. Around twenty individual graves were recorded.
These have produced some exceptionally well-preserved objects, including intact
amphorae and other ceramics, bronze bowls and other glass and alabaster
vessels.
Substantial quantities of iron weaponry
found in the graves include arrows, spears, and a number of swords, including
one 70cm long example preserved intact.
The existence of a cemetery suggests a
settlement of the same period was probably located nearby, and the presence of
deep underground-water channels (aflaj) noted in this area provides further
evidence for the creation of the nearby Al Ain Oasis in this period and the
development of the historic landscape of Al Ain.
Additional treasures were uncovered
during a project along an 11.5 km stretch encompassing three areas in Al Ain;
Khrais, Qattara and Hili. These include an Iron Age cemetery containing a
monumental stone tomb and at least 35 graves. Another area along the line of
the border fence revealed pre-Islamic tombs, one containing a cache of iron
weaponry.
Archaeologists also identified more than
50 ancient aflaj of various dates and construction techniques, evidence of
different phases of Iron Age agriculture and the organisation of irrigation
systems and agricultural plots. These ancient fields provide a tangible and
relatable link to traditional agriculture systems. They show that something
that we think of as relevant to the recent past of Al Ain, has in fact a very
long history.
Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman of
DCT Abu Dhabi, said, “The exciting recent archaeological discoveries are the
result of DCT Abu Dhabi’s ongoing efforts to uncover and protect the rich
history of the emirate and the wider nation. We are making significant
contributions to knowledge of life in the region during time periods about
which little has been known – for example, proof that early settlers in this
land implemented agricultural systems far earlier than previously thought.
Through these undertakings, we continue to obtain a more complete picture of
Abu Dhabi’s past, bolstering our pride in the achievements of our ancestors and
making valuable contributions to regional and worldwide scientific discourse.”
Artefacts recovered include ceramics
from funerary and agricultural contexts, decorated soft stone vessels, jewellery,
shells, metals, weapons, and other objects found in graves and tombs. Extensive
soil samples were taken from the site, which will provide further information
on the use of the ancient environment and the type of crops being cultivated in
the Iron Age.
The significance of these pre-Islamic
discoveries lies in showing that a period which until recently was relatively
absent from the archaeological record in Al Ain is not only present, but
seemingly widespread. It may be that the finds of swords show the adoption of
new weaponry, which may in turn indicate the rise of horse-borne warfare in the
region at this time.
As part of DCT Abu Dhabi’s continued
efforts to further knowledge of the UAE’s history and safeguard its cultural
heritage, excavation and research activities are taking place continuously
across Abu Dhabi. DCT Abu Dhabi also partners with leading educational
institutes and governmental organisations to provide students and stakeholders
with the most up-to-date knowledge on the management and protection of the
historic environment.
Source: wam.ae
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https://www.wam.ae/en/details/1395303169961
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Arab World
New mobile info center to promote
Riyadh’s Sports Boulevard project
June 16, 2023
RIYADH: A new mobile community
information center has been launched in Riyadh to promote the city’s Sports
Boulevard mega project.
Offering more than 50 sports, along with
entertainment facilities and public artworks, the development is being billed
as the world’s largest linear park.
And the Sports Boulevard Foundation’s
mobile unit will tour neighborhoods throughout the capital to provide residents
with information on the opportunities available at the site.
Launched in 2019, the Sports Boulevard
initiative has been designed to enhance the health, fitness, and mental
well-being of the city’s population.
The foundation’s chief executive
officer, Jayne McGivern, said: “The Sports Boulevard’s main purpose is to
enrich the lives of Riyadh’s residents and visitors and provide access to
grassroots sports for people of all ages and abilities.
“Community engagement throughout the
project’s lifespan will play a key part in achieving this. The mobile center
will help ensure that all our residents are aware of the new facilities that
the Sports Boulevard will offer and feel empowered to use them.”
Supported by Crown Prince Mohammed bin
Salman, the project aims to make Riyadh one of the top 100 cities in the world
by 2030.
In line with the Sports Boulevard
commitment to sustainability, the community information center will be powered
by solar panels as it travels around the city.
Initially it will be located on Prince
Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Road and then in other strategic areas
throughout the year.
Source: arabnews.com
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2322991/saudi-arabia
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Saudi medical team saves life of Iraqi
Hajj pilgrim in Makkah
June 16, 2023
MAKKAH: A specialist team from Makkah’s
King Faisal Hospital has successfully performed an emergency procedure to save
the life of an Iraqi pilgrim in her 70s.
Hatem Al-Masoudi, spokesman for the
Makkah Health Cluster, said that the pilgrim was taken to the hospital’s emergency
department by Red Crescent after complaining of constipation, nausea and severe
fatigue.
“It was found after conducting clinical,
laboratory and radiological examinations that the pilgrim was suffering from a
severe inflammation and inflation in the left kidney with an abscess that
caused a high temperature and led to blood poisoning,” he said.
Specialists carried out emergency
surgery to remove the patient’s left kidney.
Up to 60 percent of patients with the
condition die, statistics show.
Al-Masoudi told Arab News that the
six-hour operation was performed by an integrative team of urologists, surgeons
and anesthetists.
After surgery, the patient was
transferred to the intensive care unit, where her condition stabilized.
According to Al-Masoudi, the Iraqi
pilgrim had been suffering from pain in the left kidney for almost a year, but
the condition was not diagnosed.
“This type of specialized operation
requires the presence of an integrated and specialized team, and this is what
distinguishes the health sector in Makkah. The Saudi government has put at the
service of its citizens, residents and visitors distinguished medical expertise
and a myriad of state-of-the-art equipment to provide them with quality health
care services comparable to the best countries in the world,” he said.
Source: arabnews.com
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2322881/saudi-arabia
--------
Turkish Embassy hosts Ottoman motifs
painting workshop
June 16, 2023
RIYADH: Traditional Ottoman motifs
provided the focus at a painting workshop hosted by the Turkish Embassy in
Riyadh.
Seyma Nur Ulusoy, the Turkish
ambassador’s wife, told Arab News: “We chose to do it in our embassy to show
our guests our own culture in the best possible way and to make them feel like
they were in Turkiye.”
Ulusoy hosted the women’s painting
class, which was led by Turkish artist ElifAlver.
Ulusoy added: “We organized a workshop
with our esteemed guests to introduce the art of tile painting, which is an
important part of of our culture.
“She (Alver) is a painter who has had a
talent for painting since her childhood and improved her talent at university.”
Many of those attending Thursday’s event
included owners of art galleries, influencers, and wives of ambassadors and
deputy ministers of Saudi Arabia.
Instructors highlighted the significant
role that the technique of painting Turkish tiles had played in the history and
art of Turkiye.
Ulusoy added: “Normally every tile is
made by hand on raw ceramics and the art is made by painting motifs that carry
meanings. The tiles are then baked in ovens. But today we completed our
workshop by painting the tile art motifs on canvas.”
After their introductory talk — which
explained the history and culture of the art technique — guests then chose the
colors they wanted for their canvas, with Alver instructing them on the way.
Ulusoy said: “We chose tile art because
it is a very well-known and widespread art form in our country and the world.
“It has also had a history of more than
1,000 years in our country and was carried to very high levels in the Ottoman
period.”
Each guest signed their canvas after
completing their work, and the workshop came to an end with the serving of
traditional Turkish dishes.
Ulusoy has hosted many such events in
the past, including a cooking class last year which celebrated Turkish cuisine.
Source: arabnews.com
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2322856/saudi-arabia
--------
Europe
Ukrainian agriculture will need two
decades to recover – report
17 Jun, 2023
Agricultural production in Ukraine may
not return to pre-conflict levels until 2050, the Center for Food and Land Use
Research at the Kiev School of Economics estimated in its Agricultural Outlook
this week.
According to its calculations, the
conflict with Russia has cost the Ukrainian farming sector $9 billion, or more
than 26% of its tangible assets, as of April 2023.
Prior to the conflict, in 2021, around
33 million hectares were being used to cultivate grains and oilseeds. Last
year, this had shrunk to around 25 million hectares, and a further drop is
expected unless the conflict ends.
According to a model based on the
assumption that the conflict will end before the sowing of winter crops this
year, pre-crisis acreage levels are forecast to be partially restored by 2030,
and reach 37 million hectares in 2050.
Data shows, however, that the country
will need around 20 years to restore its production and exports. For instance,
the cultivation of sunflower, barley and wheat is forecast to be restored by
2040, while maize, rye, oats and rapeseed output will return to pre-crisis
levels by 2050.
Ukraine was forced to temporarily halt
its agricultural exports early last year. Supplies were restored in July 2022
thanks to the UN-brokered Black Sea Grain Initiative, which allowed Kiev to
resume sea-borne grain exports. The deal has since been extended several times.
However, according to Valentina
Matviyenko, the speaker of the upper house of the Russian parliament, the deal
may not be extended further unless Russia receives help with its own grain and
fertilizer exports, which have been affected by Ukraine-related Western
sanctions. The ending of restrictions impacting Russia’s exports was part of
the initial deal.
“It is impossible to update this deal,
and under these conditions, I believe, it is also impossible to extend it
because the limit of our patience and desire to implement it has been
exhausted,” she said on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International
Economic Forum (SPIEF) on Friday.
Source: rt.com
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https://www.rt.com/business/578191-ukrainian-agriculture-two-decades-recover/
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Zelensky offers zero flexibility to
African leaders
16 Jun, 2023
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky
brushed off the African Union peace initiative on Friday, insisting there can
be no negotiations with Russia. The high-ranking delegation of six heads of
state, led by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, visited Kiev before
moving on to St. Petersburg.
“I have said clearly and many times
during our meeting today that allowing any talks with Russia while the
occupiers are still on our land means freezing the conflict, the pain and the
suffering,” Zelensky said at the press conference afterward.
According to Zelensky, Russia “deceived”
the world for years with the Minsk process and is trying to do so again. For
peace to happen, he argued, “Russian troops need to leave our entire
independent territory.”
The Franco-German proposal Ukraine had
agreed to in 2015 was supposed to bring peace in the Donbass, but former German
chancellor Angela Merkel admitted last year that its true intent was to buy
time for NATO to arm Ukraine. Former French president Francois Hollande has
confirmed Merkel’s account. Russian President Vladimir Putin reacted with
disappointment, saying he believed for years that Berlin and Paris had been
sincere.
Zelensky also told reporters that
Ukraine was greatly helping African nations with food security and setting up
“grain hubs” on the continent “with our partners,” accusing Russia of using
hunger and social instability as a tool of political pressure.
The grain Kiev exported under the terms
of the Black Sea Initiative, however, has mostly gone to the EU and ended up as
animal feed. Meanwhile, the UN has failed to unblock the export of Russian food
and fertilizer to Africa, which used to account for a far greater share of the
continent’s needs.
The African Union mission got off to an
inauspicious start in Warsaw, when Polish authorities held up Ramaphosa’s
security detail. While in Kiev on Friday, the visitors were reportedly told to
take shelter from incoming “Russian missiles.” Ukrainian authorities later
claimed to have shot down six Russian hypersonic rockets.
“There's obviously some deliberate
misinformation being spread here,” Ramaphosa’s spokesman Vincent Magwenya later
told South African media, adding that the delegation didn’t hear any explosions
or see anything out of the ordinary.
Zelensky has previously turned down the
Vatican’s offer to mediate a ceasefire as well, telling the papal envoy
Cardinal Matteo Zuppi earlier this month that he would only accept the terms of
his own Ukrainian “peace formula.” The list of ten demands includes Russia’s
withdrawal from all territories Kiev claims as its own, payment of reparations,
war crimes trials and NATO membership for Ukraine. Moscow has dismissed it as
delusional and said that any peace talks will be with Zelensky’s “masters” in
the West, rather than their puppet.
Source: rt.com
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https://www.rt.com/russia/578176-zelensky-african-union-peace/
--------
Ilya Fabrichnikov: Why I disagree with
the call for Russia to use its nuclear weapons against the West
16 Jun, 2023
This is a response to Sergey Karaganov’s
article ‘By using its nuclear weapons, Russia could save humanity from a global
catastrophe.’
The respected Sergey Karaganov, in his
widely discussed article, suggests that we should stop haggling with the
collective West, which is pumping modern weapons into the Ukrainian armed
forces, and start moving quickly up the ladder of atomic escalation. All the while,
he believes we must demonstrate our readiness to launch a "pre-emptive
defensive nuclear strike" on the territory of one of the Western European
countries, who are the sponsors of the Kiev leadership.
We seem to be talking about Poland. If
such an escalation would not force European leaders to come to their senses
then it would be necessary to strike at a "group of countries.”
The Russian nuclear doctrine is
enshrined in the ‘Foundations of State Policy of the Russian Federation in the
Area of Nuclear Deterrence’ as of June 2, 2020. It states very clearly:
"The Russian Federation views nuclear weapons exclusively as a means of
deterrence, the use of which is an extreme and compelled measure, and is making
all the necessary efforts to reduce the nuclear threat and not allow an
aggravation in interstate relations which could provoke military conflicts,
including nuclear ones. The Russian Federation is prepared to use nuclear
weapons in four scenarios (or a combination of them):
a) [if it has] credible information
about the launch of ballistic missiles to attack the territory of the Russian
Federation and/or its allies;
b) an enemy's use of nuclear weapons or
other weapons of mass destruction on the territory of the Russian Federation
and/or its allies;
c) an enemy strike on critical state or
military facilities of the Russian Federation, the deactivation of which would
disrupt the response actions of the nuclear forces;
d) aggression against the Russian
Federation using conventional weapons, where the very existence of the state is
threatened.”
At this point, none of the scenarios
under which the Russian president could order the use of nuclear weapons are
even in the early stages of becoming possible. Nevertheless, there are clear
contours of a verbal escalation from the West that has not yet been matched by
a symmetrical response from Russian officials. So far, this verbal escalation
has been an informational confrontation aimed at probing a purely psychological
reaction from the main decision-maker on the use of nuclear weapons – President
Vladimir Putin. There are no other individuals in the country with
responsibility for the use of strategic weapons – they are not provided for in
the Constitution, relevant regulations or presidential decrees.
It should be stressed that Russia's
"nuclear doctrine" was developed under conditions where Western
countries had been making constant attacks on our core national interests and
was about indicating our readiness and ability to defend ourselves. In this
sense, it is unambiguous and not open to broad interpretations, but calibrated
and practical.
Speaking of verbal escalation, we are
not even referring to a recent proposal from a former American official of
comparatively low rank, Michael Rubin (now of the American Enterprise
Institute) in which he proposed handing over tactical nuclear weapons to
Ukraine. We are also not talking about a hypothetical US willingness to
transfer F-16 Block 40/42 aircraft to the Ukrainian armed forces, some of which
can be adapted to use B-61 freefall nuclear bombs.
In reality, this is all part of an
information campaign in the Western European and – to some extent – American
media that had gained considerable momentum by the middle of last year. Western
commentators actively and imperatively speculated about when, not if, Russia
would finally use its tactical nuclear capability against Kiev. In doing so,
they were actively urging Moscow to break the taboo of proactive nuclear use.
The goal of this information campaign is
clear: to provoke a public backlash, not only from the Russian media or expert
community, but also to put psychological pressure on Russia's foreign policy
decision makers to lower the threshold of susceptibility to such decisions. In
other words, to put Russia in a position of moral equality with the US, which
was the first and only country in the world to use atomic weapons on the
battlefield.
So far, this task has not been achieved
and the Russian leadership's approach to the use of our national nuclear
capabilities has remained reliably constrained by doctrinal frameworks, a
pragmatic view of the issue from the president, and a responsible attitude to
questions of military escalation.
It is not simply that, but according to
some estimates – including those of senior Russian diplomats and other
practitioners of international relations – a limited and preventive nuclear
strike by Russia (e.g. against Poland) wouldn’t provoke a similar response from
the US and its satellites. Rather, it’s about the fact that lowering the
threshold for the use of atomic weapons and their use against non-nuclear
states, however vehemently anti-Russian their policies and agendas may be, will
not lead to the appeasement of the Western world. Rather it would lead to an
increased possibility of the use of nuclear weapons by countries outside the
big nuclear club such as Pakistan, India, Israel and North Korea. Simply
because it could irreversibly become the norm in politico-military
confrontation.
Moreover, by arguing in practical terms
for a proactive, preventive nuclear strike in self-defense "for all the
evil they have done to us, for all the good we can achieve," we would be
playing by the rules that have been imposed on us. Instead, we should be
consistently, through pragmatic politico-military actions, demonstrating the
flawed nature of those very rules and, in the not too distant future,
dismantling them altogether – together with other responsible actors in the
international community.
One should not think about turning
Poland into a nuclear wasteland (i.e. akin to beheading an irrational child for
occasionally breaking your front window), but rather about creating a world
order in which the very idea of using military force and politico-military
pressure to impose a so-called “rules-based order" becomes impossible and
universally condemned.
On the other hand, Russia has made it
clear to its Western European and American interlocutors that if conventional
Western forces are used directly against Russian troops on the ground (e.g. if
Polish soldiers openly come into contact with our combat ranks in the event of
Polish units occupying territory in western Ukraine, attempting to invade
Kaliningrad, or carrying out military actions against Belarus), the national
doctrine of nuclear deterrence will be enacted in full compliance with the
spirit and letter of Russian law. Reading it carefully is a good and necessary
exercise for the relevant NATO politico-military planning authorities. And in
this case, no one will think twice as it is clear and well-defined.
Paradoxical as it may seem, the NATO
states are now demonstrably proactive in the delicate and error-prone business
of escalation. And Russia's foreign policy leadership seems to have reacted
belatedly to these initiatives. In fact, the Western bloc’s demonstrative
restlessness only confirms the loss of initiative, and haste always leads to
dramatic miscalculations.
We should not deprive our foreign
"partners" of the privilege of making all the mistakes they are
trying to program us to make. Instead, we should be conducting sophisticated
and multidimensional moral-psychological operations, including through the
English-language media space they control, aimed at undermining their reserve
and willingness to keep going for the long haul.
Source: rt.com
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.rt.com/russia/578165-russia-shouldnt-use-nuclear-weapon/
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‘Choosing Riyadh to host Expo 2030 would
be smart and visionary,’ former French Culture Minister Jack Lang tells Arab
News enFrancais
June 16, 2023
PARIS: Riyadh would be a “smart and
visionary choice” to host the World Expo in 2030, Jack Lang, president of the
Arab World Institute and France’s former minister of culture, has told Arab
News on the sidelines of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to
Paris this week.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met
French President Emanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace on Friday to discuss
efforts to strengthen Saudi-French relations and cooperation.
“This is an extremely important visit,
and I am delighted that His Highness, the crown prince, is present in Paris,”
Lang told Arab News at his 8th-floor office overlooking the Seine in Paris.
“It’s a moment of friendship between
France and Saudi Arabia, an opportunity for the French president and the most
senior official in Saudi Arabia to discuss a whole range of current issues
concerning international affairs.”
Lang, who has long been a vocal
supporter of close cultural ties between France and Saudi Arabia, said staging
the global event in the Kingdom’s “extraordinary capital” would have huge
symbolic significance for the Arab region and would highlight recent Saudi
achievements.
“Firstly, it is a great country, immense
in its territory and population. It is a vibrant country with an active and
creative youth, and women who are actively involved,” said Lang.
“I would say that the investment
projects envisioned by the Saudi authorities are promising, promising for
cultural development, promising for industrial and economic development.
“And beyond the present, Arabia has a
history, a civilization, and powerful moments in the life of the world. I
believe that dedicating the most important country in Arabia to this World Expo
would have great symbolic and emblematic significance.
“Choosing Riyadh as the location for an
upcoming World Expo would be a smart and visionary choice,” he added, calling
the Kingdom “a great country of the future.”
Saudi Arabia has officially submitted
its comprehensive application to host the World Expo 2030 in Riyadh. The event
would take place from Oct. 1, 2030 to March 31, 2031, under the theme “The Era
of Change: Together for a Foresighted Tomorrow.”
Following on the heels of Dubai 2020 and
Osaka 2025, Riyadh proposes to host the 2030 Expo at a six million square meter
site just north of the city. The crown prince will present the Saudi candidacy
during the International Bureau of Exhibitions (BIE) meeting in Paris early
next week.
On Monday, Saudi Arabia is set to hold
an official reception in the French capital for 179 countries as part of the
Kingdom’s bid to host the Expo. Voting will take place next November to choose
the host city for this global event.
A high-ranking Saudi delegation, members
of the international diplomatic corps based in Paris, ambassadors of countries
accredited to UNESCO, representatives of major participating entities and
projects, representatives of member states to the BIE, and senior French
officials in the government and private sectors will participate in the
reception.
Alongside Saudi Arabia, South Korea,
Italy, and Ukraine have also applied to host the World Expo. Held since 1851,
the expos are the world’s largest platform to showcase the latest achievements
and technologies and celebrate the cultural values that unite humanity.
Saudi Arabia submitted its bid for the
World Expo 2030 in October last year, in a letter sent by Crown Prince Mohammed
bin Salman to the BIE.
According to the Saudi Press Agency, the
letter stated: “We live in an era of change and we face an unprecedented need
for humanity’s collective action.”
If Saudi Arabia is selected to host the
event, authorities plan to turn Riyadh and the rest of the country into a
world-class venue for global culture, connectivity, and climate action.
Lang is especially keen to see Riyadh
succeed in its bid because he believes it could open the way for even greater
cooperation with France, particularly on cultural and architectural projects.
“If Riyadh is chosen, our Saudi friends,
who desire, as they know how, to create the most beautiful World Expo, will
seek the collaboration of French creators, architects, and engineers who are
especially talented and experienced in designing large-scale projects,” he
said, citing their work in AlUla, Paris, and elsewhere.
“The Arab World Institute was designed
by a young architect whom I had chosen, Jean Nouvel. And since then, he has
become a star, also sought after by the crown prince in AlUla and Riyadh. Other
strong and powerful personalities can contribute their talents, energy, and
abilities to the organization of the World Expo.”
During his Paris visit, the crown prince
will also lead the Saudi delegation at the Saudi-French Summit to be held on
June 19, and the summit for a multinational New Global Financial Pact, also
held in Paris on June 23- 24.
Macron aims to build “a new contract
between northern and southern countries to tackle the dual challenge of climate
change and global inequalities,” according to the summit website.
The summit was announced last fall
during the UN Climate Change Conference, COP27, in Egypt’s Red Sea resort town
of Sharm El-Sheikh.
Security, defense, and issues related to
the clean energy transition were likely high on the agenda during Friday’s
meeting between the crown prince and Macron. However, cultural and educational
ties were no doubt also discussed.
“I imagine they will also discuss the
very active cultural cooperation that exists between our two countries, such as
AlUla or even the project to create the largest contemporary art museum in the
Arab world at the IMA,” said Lang, who has led the diplomatic-cultural
institution for a decade.
“These are some of the projects that we
are working on hand in hand with the Saudi authorities, and we are pleased to
do so.”
Lang praised the “cultural revolution”
underway in Saudi Arabia, which has been marked by the opening of performance
venues and the promotion of whole new creative industries — unheard of just a
few short years ago before the launch of Vision 2030, the Kingdom’s social
reform and economic diversification agenda.
“We in France, at least I can say that
for myself at the IMA, have great admiration for what is currently being
undertaken in Saudi Arabia,” said Lang.
“The cultural revolution that is truly
underway is visible everywhere in Jeddah, Riyadh, and the rest of the country.
Museums, cinema, music, all the arts are in motion, and the Saudi youth are
happy to participate in this great cultural movement.”
The IMA hosted the Saudi Cinema Night
last May and “the unique and grand exhibition on AlUla (in 2019), inaugurated
by Prince Badr (Saudi minister of culture),” which was extended for several
months due to its success, said Lang.
“It is true that the Arab World
Institute and its president, from day one, believed in the sincerity of the
plans launched by the crown prince.”
Lang will soon host an Arab film
festival in cooperation with the Red Sea Film Festival in Jeddah. He says he is
proud to have fostered cultural ties between France and Saudi Arabia at a time
when others had doubts about such partnerships.
“Everyone was skeptical everywhere in
Europe and around the world,” said Lang.
“And moreover, on two or three
occasions, the crown prince, whom I met, especially in AlUla, said to me,
‘Thank you for being the first in the world to believe in the truthfulness of
our projects.’”
Source: arabnews.com
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2323016/saudi-arabia
--------
North America
Muslim World LeagueLaunches Initiative
To ‘Build Bridges Of Understanding’ Between East And West
June 16, 2023
NEW YORK: Dr. Mohammed Al-Issa,
secretary-general of the Muslim World League and chairman of the Organization
of Muslim Scholars, inaugurated at UN Headquarters in New York the “Building
Bridges of Understanding and Peace Between East and West” initiative.
The session was attended by President of
the UN General Assembly CsabaKorosi, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina
Mohammed, High Representative for the UN Alliance of Civilizations Miguel
Moratinos and Special Adviser on Multiculturalism and Religions at the UN
Arthur Wilson.
In his opening speech, Al-Issa stressed
the importance of strengthening the alliance, saying that each civilization has
its own identity whose right to exist must be understood.
Source: arabnews.com
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2322986/saudi-arabia
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‘Washington Post’ takes aim at
Palestinian Islamic Jihad … and misses
(June 16, 2023 / JNS)
In a May 12, 2023 report, The Washington
Post asked: “What is Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the militant group Israel is
targeting in Gaza?” But after reading the 1,294-word backgrounder on the
terrorist organization, Post readers are likely left with more questions than
answers.
The newspaper’s look at Palestinian
Islamic Jihad (PIJ) is timely. The terror group has attacked Israel with
growing frequency, hatching additional plots at the behest of its chief
benefactor, the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Israel has responded by “mowing the
grass”—a term for carrying out short-term, highly surgical operations aimed at
severely handicapping PIJ. A May 2023 operation, dubbed “Shield and Arrow,”
provided the basis for the Post’s backgrounder on the group.
Yet it is striking what Post reporter
Miriam Berger omitted. Indeed, despite the report’s length, she failed to
mention a key fact: PIJ isn’t a “militant” or “extremist” group as the Post
claims. Rather, it is a U.S.-designated terrorist group that calls for Israel’s
destruction and a genocide of Jews. That seems important.
Indeed, instead of noting PIJ’s
ambitions, the Post echoes language used by the terror group. PIJ, the Post
asserts, is “committed to armed resistance against Israel, a self-described
Jewish state established in 1948 on land Palestinians claim.” But as the
Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA) has
noted, “armed resistance” is a euphemism for terrorism.
PIJ’s real objective is to murder Jews
and destroy Israel. Its leaders routinely say as much—and open-source
English-language translations of their rhetoric are readily available. It is
both curious and pathetic that none of these statements from PIJ leaders made
it into a backgrounder on the group.
Nor was PIJ established to achieve
Palestinian statehood.
Berger doesn’t mention it, but
Palestinian leaders have rejected numerous offers for statehood, including in
1948. Instead, they’ve continuously embraced war, explicitly seeking the
destruction of the world’s sole Jewish state. The Post passes on noting this
salient fact; instead, the newspaper claims that PIJ is simply “opposed to the
1993 Oslo Accords, which never went into full effect, and any other political
agreement with Israel.” But Islamic Jihad is opposed to the very existence of
Israel. Indulging in another common euphemism employed by terrorists, the Post
meekly refers to this objective as “the Palestinian struggle.”
PIJ itself exists in Hamas-run Gaza,
which is an ethno-nationalist entity that is entirely devoid of Jews. By
contrast, the “self-described Jewish state” of Israel has an Arab population
that enjoys vastly greater rights, freedoms and quality of life than Arabs
living under PIJ or Hamas rule. Arabs in Israel can vote, have their own
political parties, have run hospitals and founded major businesses, and sit on
the Supreme Court. Gaza hasn’t held an election in nearly two decades.
The Post, however, remains committed to
pushing a PIJ-approved narrative. Elsewhere, the Post quotes casualty
statistics supplied by “Gaza’s Health Ministry.” But as CAMERA has frequently
pointed out, including to Post staff, this “ministry” is run by Hamas, a
terrorist group with both an interest in, and a history of, lying about
casualties.
For good measure, Berger also claims
that “last year Israeli forces killed nearly 150 Palestinians in the West Bank
and East Jerusalem” and “in the first four months of 2023, Israeli forces have
killed nearly 100 Palestinians, according to U.N. figures.” But as CAMERA has
highlighted (including to Post staff) that many of those killed have been
linked to terrorist groups. What is more, casualty stats provided by the United
Nations should be treated with skepticism—the agency has a long-documented
history of anti-Israel bias.
PIJ and Hamas would have the
unsuspecting reader believe that Israel is wantonly slaughtering Palestinians.
The Washington Post seems happy to toe that line.
Similarly, the Post misleads when it
writes that Israel “controls and restricts nearly all passage of people, goods,
and humanitarian services into and out of Gaza.” This, the paper implies, is
responsible for high unemployment and poverty. But this overlooks that Egypt
also blockades Gaza—and for good reason as the territory is ruled by a terrorist
group.
Whether it’s the Islamic State in Iraq
and Syria, Hezbollah in Lebanon, or Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza, terrorist
organizations seldom make for good governance. However, this fact is glossed
over; it’s much easier to just blame Israel instead of acknowledging that
Gazans themselves voted for a terror group whose very charter approvingly cites
Adolf Hitler.
Instead, the Post chalks PIJ’s booming
popularity up to the “perceived failures” of aging Palestinian leaders in Fatah
and Hamas. PIJ, the post says, “is increasingly popular among Palestinians
disillusioned by the failure of politicians to achieve statehood, ensure safety
and end the Israeli occupation.”
This is nonsense. Palestinian leaders
have been offered peace in exchange for statehood on a number of occasions—most
recently in 2000, 2001 and 2008. All of these U.S. and Israeli proposals were
rejected by Fatah leadership. As for “safety,” in recent years, more wars have
been started by Hamas and PIJ than Fatah. And PIJ’s own propaganda to include
printed maps and slogans is clear that it considers all of Israel to be an
“occupation.”
The Post’s backgrounder on PIJ fails in
other respects; it doesn’t fully articulate the group’s founding, its ideology
or leadership. Readers looking for a better account of the group and its
history would be well advised to look to CAMERA’s 2016 report, Palestinian
Islamic Jihad.
Still, it is both telling and damning
that a lean but mighty nonprofit managed to provide a better look at a
terrorist group than one of the world’s largest newspapers, with all of its
considerable resources.
Source: jns.org
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.jns.org/jns/hamas/23/6/15/295780/
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Michigan man gets 14 years in prison for
fighting for Islamic State
June 16, 2023
DETROIT — A Detroit-area man who was
captured on a Syrian battlefield in 2018 fighting for Islamic State was
sentenced Thursday to 14 years in prison.
Ibraheem Izzy Musaibli of Dearborn was
convicted in January of providing support to a designated terrorist
organization.
“For his betrayal of our nation and his
fellow citizens, he is deserving of a long sentence,” U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison
said.
Musaibli, 32, traveled to Yemen in 2015
and continued his research into Islamic State, including downloading propaganda
from the group and a book on how to get into Syria, according to trial
evidence.
“ISIS assigned him to a military
fighting battalion, and Musaibli spent at least nine months fighting on the
front lines,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Hank Moon said in a court filing.
Musaibli’s sentence is far short of the
35-year term requested by prosecutors. Defense attorneys sought a 10-year
prison term. Musaibli will get credit for five years spent in custody since being
charged.
His lawyers said Musaibli was a troubled
man who was “manipulated by propaganda” and turned out to be an ineffective
Islamic State supporter.
“Mr. Musaibli saw himself as a failure.
... Like many young men looking for redemption, he thought heroic glory on the
battlefield would earn him the respect of his family and others,” James
Gerometta said in a court filing.
Source: nbcnews.com
Please
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https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/michigan-man-gets-14-years-prison-fighting-islamic-state-rcna89673
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Africa
Allied Democratic Forces Militants Kill
25, Abduct Others In Attack On Ugandan School, Police And Military Say
June 17, 2023
KAMPALA, June 17 (Reuters) - Militants
linked to Islamic State killed 25 people and abducted some others in an attack
on a school in western Uganda near the border with the Democratic Republic of
Congo, police said on Saturday.
"Our forces are pursuing the enemy
to rescue those abducted and destroy this group," defence spokesperson
Felix Kulayigye said on Twitter.
Authorities did not say how many people
had been abducted by the attackers, members of the rebel group Allied
Democratic Forces (ADF) that has pledged allegiance to Islamic State.
The assailants attacked Lhubirira
Secondary School in the western border town of Mpondwe late on Friday, burning
a dormitory and looting food, police said.
"So far 25 bodies have been
recovered from the school and transferred to Bwera Hospital. Also recovered are
eight victims, who remain in critical condition at Bwera Hospital," police
said on Twitter.
Police did not say how many of the dead
were schoolchildren.
The attackers fled towards Virunga
National Park in Congo, police added.
The ADF rebels launched their insurgency
against President Yoweri Museveni in the 1990s from an initial base in the
Rwenzori Mountains.
The group was largely defeated by the
Ugandan military but remnants fled across the border into the vast jungles of
eastern Congo from where they have since maintained their insurgency -
perpetrating attacks on civilian and military targets in both Congo and Uganda.
In April, the ADF attacked a village in
eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, killing at least 20 people.
Reporting by Elias Biryabarema
Additional reporting by Jose Joseph in Bengaluru and George Obulutsa in Nairobi
Editing by William Mallard and Frances Kerry
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust
Principles.
Source: reuters.com
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/uganda-police-say-25-people-killed-terrorist-attack-mpondwe-2023-06-17/?rpc=401&
--------
Farooq Kperogi: Did KashimShettima
transform from “Boko Haram Sponsor” to Anti-Muslim Muslim?
FAROOQ KPEROGI
JUNE 17, 2023
Vice President KashimShettima is
undergoing an interesting notional transformation in Nigeria’s fractured public
sphere. Before and during the last presidential election, his opponents,
particularly in the South, tagged him as the “founder of Boko Haram” even though
he was a mere commissioner in 2009 when Boko Haram burst forth into national
consciousness and he had exactly zero connection with the group’s founding.
People who couldn’t sustain the charge
that he founded Boko Haram (because the chronology of Boko Haram’s emergence
and the rise of his political stature don’t align) caused a 2017 photo of him
dining on a mat with Fulani herders whose children he enrolled in a secular
school he built for them when he was governor of Borno to go viral on social
media. The Fulani herders were labelled “Boko Haram terrorists” with whom
Shettima was allegedly hatching sinister designs.
Several fact-checks, including by the
BBC’s Global Disinformation Team that famously exposed in a January 18
investigation that “parties give out cash, lavish gifts, government contracts
and even political appointments” for disinformation against political
opponents, revealed that the photo emerged from an innocuous, publicly
available record of Shettima’smove to promote Western education among the
children of nomadic Fulani people in Borno, which is paradoxically a direct
attack on Boko Haram’s ideology.
But the fact-checks did nothing to
attenuate the narrative that he is a Boko Haram sponsor, or that the viral
photo was merely the photographic record of his meeting with parents of
children he enrolled in a Western school.
Neither Shettima nor his media team, to
my knowledge, did anything to dispel the reputationally damaging falsehoods
about his connections to Boko Haram. He even made a joking reference to his
being the “sponsor of Boko Haram” when he announced his appointment of two
Christians as his first volitional hires as vice president, indicating that it
doesn’t worry him.
The reference to appointing Christians
as his personal aides was unnecessary because he is on record as the first
governor of Borno to appoint southern Christians as aides. His Chief Detail was
a certain IfeanyiOnwubuya. One Christopher Godwin Akaba who is my Facebook
friend also served as his Special Assistant. And Chief Kester Ogualili was his
Special Adviser on Community Relations.
Shettima probably hasn’t cared to
correct the false narrative of his Boko Haram associational baggage because it
doesn’t cause him any reputational harm in his natal constituency, by which I
mean Muslim northern Nigeria. But he now has a reason to be worried about his
acceptance in this constituency for a different, even ironic, reason.
This week, his forceful, impassioned
appeal to northern Muslim senators to concede the senate presidency to a
southern Christian in light of the current political power configuration that
is disproportionately tilted in favour of Muslims caused offense to many
Northern Muslims and earned him the rather ironic label of being an
“anti-Muslim”— or, if you like Christophilic—Muslim.
(I am using Muslim Christophilia here to
denote notions of excessive, often compensatory, empathy for Christians by a
Muslim who wants to show that he or she is not bigoted against Christians. It’s
the opposite of Christian Islamophilia).
In an address to an informal gathering
of senators on June 11, Shettima said, “For me, under the current dispensation,
the worst, the most incompetent Southern Christian is better than the most
puritanical Northern Muslim for the Presidency of the Senate of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria.” And all hell broke loose in Muslim northern Nigeria.
Shettima’s media aide initially issued a
statement that accused critics of Shettima’s statement of being “mischief
makers” who “twisted” his words in the service of a predetermined agenda. That
was both inaccurate and unhelpful. Several of the people I read criticising him
over the statement were well-meaning, non-partisan people who aren’t given to
unwarranted toxicity.
I first became aware of Shettima’s speech
from a Facebook friend by the name of Muhammad Sulaiman Abdullahi who is an
editor with an online newspaper called The Daily Reality. He was peeved by what
Shettima said, but I don’t know him to be politically partisan.
Even Northern Elders Forum’s Dr Hakeem
Baba-Ahmed who criticised Shettima’s words as “unfortunate” and helped amplify
the reach of his speech isn’t a “mischief maker.” He is a deeply intellectual
yet temperate, amiable, and mild-mannered person.
Nonetheless, I think the reaction to
Shettima’s speech in Muslim northern Nigeria, even from Baba-Ahmed, missed the
context of his text. It was obviously a case of the main point of a speech
being lost in a maze of figures of speech. He deployed intentional exaggeration
and rhetorical contrast to aggrandise the point he wanted to make.
He proceeded from the assumption that
his audience agreed that a “puritanical Northern Muslim” embodies the ultimate
standard of perfection. That leap isn’t surprising because, like me, Shettima
was raised by a father who was an Arabic and Islamic Studies teacher.
(Shettima’s father taught Arabic and Islamic Studies to former Borno State
governor Mala Kachalla in primary school in Maiduguri).
Shettima deployed the ideal of a
“puritanical Northern Muslim” as the basis for a contrast with the “worst, most
incompetent” southern Christian to dramatise the exigency (or what Martin
Luther King, Jr would have called the “fierce urgency”) of electing a Southern
Christian senate president because the president, vice president, speaker, and
Chief Justice of Nigeria are (in the case of the speaker would be) Muslims.
So, the operative term was “under the
current dispensation.” In other words, he wanted to communicate the idea that
sometimes circumstances dictate the ideals we should promote. I made a similar,
if reverse, argument in my June 12, 2022, article titled “A Muslim-Muslim
Ticket in APC?” which opposed the Muslim-Muslim ticket Shettima is a
beneficiary of.
I wrote: “When Obasanjo favored northern
Christians in appointments during his administration, he defended his action by
insisting that he was guided by considerations of competence, not religion or
region.
“Some of the same people who’re
defending the prospect of a Muslim-Muslim ticket in APC using ‘competence’ as a
defense (as if competence is delimited by religion or region) told Obasanjo
that sensitivity to intra-regional diversity trumped ‘competence.’ Hypocrisy
seems to be grafted into our DNA.”
If he had chosen to be plain, Shettima’s
speech would have read something like, “I am the son of an Islamic Studies
teacher and deeply respect the ideal of a pious Muslim leading the polity. But
to tell you how much I want a Southern Christian to be Senate president since
every other position in the highest reaches of government is occupied by
Muslims in a multi-religious country like Nigeria, I’d be prepared, under the
circumstance, to sacrifice the leadership of the pious Muslim leader I’ve been
brought up to cherish, which tells you how much invested I am in averting the disruption
that I think will result from electing another Muslim as a senate president.”
Contrary to what many northern Muslims
understood him as saying, he was actually manifesting praise and approval for
the hypothetical “puritanical northern Muslim.”
The only criticism of his speech that is
valid, in my opinion, is that which says his concerns for reflecting religious
plurality in leadership at the top is at best self-serving. Had he rejected
being a running mate to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a fellow Muslim, on
account of the sameness of the faith he shares with the president, he would
have stood on firm moral grounds to campaign against the dominance of one faith
in the leadership of the country.
Well, Shettima has now apologised
because he has understood that if, as a leader, your communication isn’t
understood by your followers, the fault lies not with the followers who
misunderstood you but with you the leader. As I pointed out in my September 17,
2022, column titled “Shettima as Tinubu’s Chief De-Marketer,” the vice
president needs to be attentive to his communication style.
I wrote: “He appears to just love the
show of erudition and bibliophilia that comes from his exhibitionistic verbal
swagger. It may excite his admirers and may even be cherished by Nigerian
rhetorical scholars, but it’s a treacherous political minefield.” I am sure he
will agree with me now—and has learned his lesson.
Source: gazettengr.com
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://gazettengr.com/farooq-kperogi-did-kashim-shettima-transform-from-boko-haram-sponsor-to-anti-muslim-muslim/
--------
Shettima Apologises To Muslims Over
Controversial Comment On Choice Of NASS Presiding Officers
17-06-23
Vice President KashimShettima has issued
an apology to the Nigerian Muslim community for his remarks regarding the
choice of presiding officers for the 10th National Assembly.
During a meeting with lawmakers leading
up to the inauguration and election of presiding officers of the 10th National
Assembly, Shettima had made a controversial statement, which caused widespread
condemnation from Islamic clerics and followers.
Speaking exclusively to the Hausa
Service of BBC, Shettima expressed that his comments had been misunderstood and
clarified that he had no intention of defaming his religion of Islam.
He explained that his remarks were aimed
at the overall benefit of Nigeria and were based on confidential intelligence
reports that were not suitable for public disclosure.
“The comment I made is for the benefit
of Nigeria but was misinterpreted.
“I sincerely did not have any intention
to cause harm to any individual or the Islamic religion. However, being an
imperfect human being, I seek forgiveness from the community and from my Lord.
“I pledge that I will never reiterate
such words again, as I am a devout Muslim, and my family lineage has faithfully
followed the path of Islam for more than 1,400 years,” Shetima stated.
Expressing remorse for any hurt caused
by his statement, the Vice President extended his apologies, emphasising that
it was never his intention to disparage any religion.
VP Shettima’s apology comes in the wake
of public backlash following the controversial comment in a viral video.
Source: leadership.ng
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://leadership.ng/shettima-apologises-to-muslims-over-controversial-comment-on-choice-of-nass-presiding-officers/
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Pakistan
Pakistani journalists should be allowed
to 'do their work': US State Dept
June 16, 2023
Following the registration of cases
against several journalists and anchorpersons for their alleged involvement in
the May 9 riots, the United States said that journalists in Pakistan should be
allowed to cover the ongoing events and do their work freely.
US State Department spokesperson Matthew
Miller, during a press briefing in Washington, said: "I would say that we
generally urge all governments to respect the role of journalists and
media."
Noting that the press performs a
critical function in democratic societies, Miller said: "We expect that
journalists covering the events in Pakistan should all be allowed to do their
work."
The spokesperson noted that a press
without restrictions plays an important role in helping democratic forces
evolve.
"A free and independent press is a
vital, core institution that undergirds healthy democracies by ensuring that
electorates can make informed decisions and holding government officials
accountable."
PTI chief's allegations false
In response to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
(PTI) Chairman Imran Khan's allegations against the United States, the
department reiterated its rejection.
"I would say that we've spoken
[about] this in the past. Those allegations are absolutely false," the
State Department spokesperson noted.
"Pakistani politics are a matter
for the Pakistani people to decide, pursuant to their own constitution and
laws."
"They are not a matter for the
United States Government," he added.
In March 2022, the PTI chief claimed
that the US was plotting to oust him and continued with the tirade even after
being voted out of office.
But the tirade ended when he later
blamed former army chief General (retired) Qamar Javed Bajwa for his removal
from office.
Following the registration of cases
against several journalists and anchorpersons for their alleged involvement in
the May 9 riots, the United States said that journalists in Pakistan should be
allowed to cover the ongoing events and do their work freely.
US State Department spokesperson Matthew
Miller, during a press briefing in Washington, said: "I would say that we
generally urge all governments to respect the role of journalists and
media."
Noting that the press performs a
critical function in democratic societies, Miller said: "We expect that
journalists covering the events in Pakistan should all be allowed to do their
work."
The spokesperson noted that a press
without restrictions plays an important role in helping democratic forces
evolve.
"A free and independent press is a
vital, core institution that undergirds healthy democracies by ensuring that
electorates can make informed decisions and holding government officials
accountable."
PTI chief's allegations false
In response to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
(PTI) Chairman Imran Khan's allegations against the United States, the
department reiterated its rejection.
"I would say that we've spoken
[about] this in the past. Those allegations are absolutely false," the
State Department spokesperson noted.
"Pakistani politics are a matter
for the Pakistani people to decide, pursuant to their own constitution and
laws."
"They are not a matter for the
United States Government," he added.
In March 2022, the PTI chief claimed
that the US was plotting to oust him and continued with the tirade even after
being voted out of office.
But the tirade ended when he later
blamed former army chief General (retired) Qamar Javed Bajwa for his removal
from office.
Source: thenews.com.pk
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1081075-pakistani-journalists-should-be-allowed-to-do-their-work-freely-us-state-dept
--------
Washington Honours Pakistani Police
Officer, Zaheer Ahmed, As Anti-Trafficking Hero
June 17, 2023
WASHINGTON: The US State Department
has honoured a Pakistan police officer, Zaheer Ahmed, as one of the eight
anti-trafficking heroes of 2023 while acknowledging that the country has
increased its efforts to curb human trafficking.
The honour list was announced on
Thursday at a special event in Washington where Secretary of State Antony
Blinken also released the annual Trafficking in Persons report for 2023.
The report places Pakistan among the
tier-two countries whose governments do not fully meet the anti-trafficking
standards but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into
compliance with those.
The report identified bonded labour as
the most pressing problem in Pakistan. “There were reports of victims being
re-victimised, and corruption continued to hinder anti-trafficking efforts. In
Sindh, local officials continued to perpetrate bonded labour with impunity in
brick kilns and on farms,” the report added.
The US State Department, however,
acknowledged that in 2022 Pakistan “demonstrated overall increase in efforts” to
investigate, prosecute and convicting traffickers.
“The government identified and referred
more victims for protection services, and provincial labor departments referred
more bonded labor cases to law enforcement,” the report added.
Zaheer Ahmed, a Deputy Inspector
General in Pakistan’s Police Service, was selected from a global list of
prominent law enforcers and activists who played key roles in suppressing human
trafficking in 2023. He previously served as director of the Federal
Investigation Agency’s (FIA) Anti-Human Smuggling Unit.
The State Department said Mr Ahmed was
“instrumental in increasing Pakistan’s efforts to combat human trafficking
during his time as director of this unit”.
The report urges Pakistan to vigorously
increase the number of bonded labour victims identified and referred to
services, including by ensuring labour inspectors have sufficient resources to
conduct inspections and report potential trafficking cases to law enforcement.
It asks Pakistan to implement measures
to address corruption in law enforcement and take steps to shield trafficking
investigators and prosecutors from external influence; increase prosecutions
and convictions of all forms of trafficking, including bonded labour, and seek
adequate penalties for convicted traffickers, including complicit officials,
which should involve significant prison terms.
The report urges Pakistan to ensure
victims are not inappropriately penalised solely for unlawful acts committed as
a direct result of being trafficked; continue to train officials, including law
enforcement, judges, and prosecutors; expand services for bonded labourers,
including vocational training and job placement support, debt and injury
restitution, shelter, identity documents, and legal assistance.
It urges Pakistan to ensure the victims
are informed of the law that discharges all bonded labourers from any
obligations to render such labour through awareness campaigns; increase
registration of brick kiln and farm workers to ensure their access to services
and government relief, especially in response to sudden-onset disasters due to
climate change.
The report asks Pakistan to increase the
quality and availability of trafficking-specific services, including for males,
and increase dedicated funding for services and staff training; vigorously
raise public awareness of forced labour, particularly in domestic servitude,
brick kilns, and agriculture; take steps to eliminate all recruitment fees
charged to workers, lift restrictions on female migrants, and increase protections
of migrant workers in destination countries; and establish a national hotline,
in collaboration with civil society, to report trafficking crimes and provide
victim assistance and referral.
Source: dawn.com
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.dawn.com/news/1760215/washington-honours-pakistani-officer-as-anti-trafficking-hero
--------
Shehbaz wants to see Nawaz become PM for
fourth time
June 16, 2023
Following the trust reposed by his party
in his presidency, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday told workers that he
wishes to see Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif return
to Pakistan and become the prime minister for a fourth time.
The premier made the appeal during a
central general council meeting of the party where the premier was re-elected
as the president of the PML-N.
Addressing the meeting, PM Shehbaz said
that he was waiting for his elder brother — who has been in self-imposed exile
in London since November 2019 owing to health reasons — to return to Pakistan
and then hold the party meeting so he could hand over the PML-N's presidentship
back to him.
“The election commission’s sword was
hanging which is why this meeting was held,” the prime minister added.
Premier Shehbaz was given the PML-N’s
presidency after his predecessor — Nawaz, the three-time prime minister — was
disqualified by the Supreme Court and barred from holding any party office.
He also said that the PML-N needed young
leadership, and commended Maryam for her hard work.
“You will see that the map of politics
will change when Nawaz Sharif returns to Pakistan,” PM Shehbaz said.
Coming to his governance, he once again
reminded the workers that his government took charge at a time when they did
not get roses but thorns.
“Inflation has broken the back of the
people, oil prices were touching the sky. The coalition government decided
together that we would face the tough times,” he said, adding that in the
upcoming budget, the government increased the salaries of employees and
pensions.
"We have still locked horns with
the IMF [and] Pakistan will continue on the path of development,” the premier
further said.
On the criticism of Finance Minister
Ishaq Dar, PM Shehbaz said that those people within the party pulling his leg
have no right to remain part of the PML-N.
Before the PM’s address, PML-N Senior
Vice-President Maryam lauded the workers that stood with the party in its
difficult times. “The party is standing today because the workers stood by the
party during its difficult times."
She also lauded PM Shehbaz for running
the current government along with coalition partners.
“Be it a big or small decision, Shehbaz
Sharif did not do anything without Nawaz Sharif’s approval,” Maryam told the
party workers. She also shared that her father, Nawaz, asks her to talk
politely if she gets emotional during her speeches.
“Nawaz Sharif never asked anyone to put
on fire anything. Nawaz Sharif and PML-N faced a lot of difficulties but never
cried about them,” she added.
Meanwhile, the meeting also passed a
resolution against the violence that took place on May 9 after the arrest of
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan. The convention also unanimously
passed a resolution in solidarity with the Kashmiri people.
The political huddle also called for
severe punishment of those who tried to create divisions in national
institutions. The characters who conspired to create a rift between the people
and the army should be punished, it added.
Apart from the election of PM Shehbaz as
the president, the convention also backed the appointment of Ahsan Iqbal as the
secretary general of the party, Maryam as chief organiser and senior vice
president, Ishaq Dar as president PML-N overseas, Marriyum Aurangzeb as
secretary information and Ataullah Tarar as deputy secretary general.
Source: thenews.com.pk
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1081233-shehbaz-wants-to-see-nawaz-become-pm-for-fourth-time
---------
‘Stronger foreign ties essential for
solving domestic issues’
June 17, 2023
ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Bilawal
Bhutto-Zardari on Friday said that addressing the country’s domestic issues
requires the quick rebuilding of ties, restoring trust with key capitals and
reinvigorating extensive engagement with traditional partners.
He said Pakistan is committed to forging
good relations with all major powers, which includes not only the US and China
but also Europe, Russia, Japan and Asean countries.
The minister made these remarks while
addressing a ceremony held to mark the 50th foundation day of the Institute of
Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI), according to a press release issued on
Friday.
The foreign minister said Islamabad had
reinforced and deepened its partnerships with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Turkiye,
Iran and Qatar, besides seeing a positive trend in the Pakistan-Africa
linkages.
He also emphasised the need for the
country’s foreign policy to be imaginative and multi-dimensional, considering
the rapidly transforming geopolitical landscaping across the globe.
According to a press release, Mr
Bhutto-Zardari said that when he assumed the office in April last year, the
country was facing serious challenges on the diplomatic fronts. However, he
said, the government pursued a foreign policy aimed at addressing national
challenges, improving access to goods and services, preserving sovereign
decision-making and promoting multilateralism and international law.
The minister told the gathering of
ambassadors, think tanks, researchers and educationists that Pakistan always
opposed the bloc politics and advocated cooperation as a main driver of
international relations.
He said the Pakistan-China strategic
partnership had been enduring and proven to be beneficial over several decades,
adding that Islamabad was fully committed to the success of the China-Pakistan
Economic Corridor (CPEC).
The foreign minister said that extending
CPEC to Afghanistan and the west would further advance the agenda of
connectivity and economic integration. Regarding Pakistan-US relations, the
foreign minister highlighted that proactive outreach efforts have resulted in
high-level visits from both sides. He expressed hope that the de-hyphenation
approach would further strengthen bilateral relations.
With Russia, he said Pakistan continued
to build relations based on trust, recognising the significant potential across
multiple sectors. He said as a friend of Russia and Ukraine, Pakistan desired a
peaceful resolution to the ongoing crisis.
He said the ties with India were marked
by mistrust primarily due to India’s unilateral and illegal actions of Aug 5,
2019 in held Kashmir. He said Pakistan was committed to having good neighbourly
relations with India based on mutual respect and sovereign equality. In order
to move forward, he said, India would have to remove the obstacles hindering
peace and reverse the unilateral actions of Aug 5.
Regarding Afghanistan, the foreign
minister urged the international community to adopt a pragmatic approach and
continue to provide assistance to prevent any humanitarian disaster and help
rebuild its economy.
Similarly, he also urged the Taliban
authorities to come up to the expectations of the global community and show
respect for human rights.
Source: dawn.com
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.dawn.com/news/1760220
--------
Shadman Police Station attack: Yasmin
Rashid, 11 others denied post-arrest bail
June 17, 2023
LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court on
Friday denied post-arrest bail to PTI-Punjab President Dr Yasmin Rashid and
eleven others in the Shadman police station attack case.
Judge Ijaz Ahmad Buttar announced his
reserved verdicts on the bail petitions of 34 suspects in the police station
attack during the May 9 riots.
The judge dismissed the petitions of 12
suspects while released 22 others on bail subject to furnishing surety bonds.
Those granted bail mostly include juveniles.
Separately, the judge issued notices to
the police and the prosecution on petitions of Dr Rashid for post-arrest bail
in three other cases including attacks on Askari Tower, PML-N office in Model
Town and torching a container at Kalma Chowk.
Advocate Rana Mudassir advanced his
initial arguments on behalf of the petitioner and asked the court to allow the
bail petitions.
The judge adjourned the hearings of the
container burning case till June 20, tower’s case till June 21 and PML-N office
burning case till June 22.
IDENTIFICATION PARADE: The Lahore High
Court has directed the police that the identification parade of a suspect shall
be conducted within 48 hours of the arrest under the supervision of a judicial
magistrate.
Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh observed
that if the identification parade is not conducted within 48 hours of the
arrest, the magistrate shall bring the matter to the notice of the district and
sessions judge and the police head concerned.
If the sessions judge finds any
delinquency or dereliction of duty by the investigating officer (IO), he shall
also recommend action against him (the IO).
Justice Sheikh rules that the magistrate
shall ensure the identification parade be held the next day in any case.
The judge issued the instructions while
disposing petitions of some suspects arrested for their alleged involvement in
the May 9 riots by the PTI in Multan.
The petitioners agitated a delay in
their identification parade on part of the police.
The petitioners were initially detained
under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) Ordinance and their detention
orders were subsequently revoked, but the police arrested them in criminal
cases relating to the May 9 events.
Justice Sheikh held that evidently the
current practice of the identification parade is inefficient.
He said the delay in conducting the
parade following the suspect’s arrest also compromises the credibility of the
procedure.
The judge regrets that such delays,
besides causing unnecessary hardship to a suspect, impact his fundamental
rights to liberty, dignity, due process and a fair trial.
Source: dawn.com
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.dawn.com/news/1760165/shadman-police-station-attack-yasmin-rashid-11-others-denied-post-arrest-bail
--------
Sanaullah doesn't see PTI chief's role
in national politics anymore
June 17, 2023
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman
Imran Khan will never be a key player in national politics again, Interior
Minister Rana Sanaullah said Friday.
"He is a miscreant. He brought
indecency into politics," the minister told Geo News' Shahzeb Khanzada as
he slammed the PTI chief for his tirade against the ruling coalition.
Embattled Khan faces a slew of cases —
from terrorism to murder — since his ouster in April last year through a
no-confidence vote, but was able to hit back at the government.
But after the May 9 riots, when he was
arrested, and his party workers resorted to extreme violence, the authorities
began clamping down on his party, with scores of leaders parting ways with the
PTI.
Sanaullah claimed that if PTI thinks its
vote bank has increased post-May 9, it is living in a fantasy.
"The people have seen their real
faces. He's a 'scourage' upon the nation whose only agenda is to cause
destruction in the country."
When the authorities began arresting PTI
workers for their alleged involvement in vandalism, the party called it
political victimisation, with Khan vowing that come what may, he would win the
next elections.
Sanaullah said the PTI chief had induced
hatred in the youth. "Now, every sensible person is well-aware about his
plans to spread chaos."
Is Elahi comfortable?
In the same show, in reference to PTI
President Parvez Elahi, he said it is common practice to shift prisoners from
jail to hospital when they are in pain.
PTI has been claiming that Elahi is
unwell and is being denied his rights. His wife also claims the same and said
that the manner in which Elahi was treated in the jail "is very
painful".
But Sanaullah refuted the allegations.
He noted that the party had earlier
levelled false allegations against jail authorities for harassing PTI's women
workers, which the government and PTI's female workers themselves denied.
"According to the reports I
received, Chaudhry Parvez Elahi is comfortable. He is being provided all
facilities."
Source: thenews.com.pk
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1081462-sanaullah-doesnt-see-pti-chiefs-role-in-national-politics-anymore
----------
Bilawal warns against forging ‘military
alliances’
June 16, 2023
KARACHI:
Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari
on Friday outlined Pakistan’s strategy in an increasingly polarised world,
saying Islamabad clearly voiced its opposition to any bloc politics or relapse
into the Cold War.
“Forging military alliances and
assigning the role of ‘net security provider’ to some countries at the expense
of others is fraught with grave consequences,” Bilawal cautioned in a keynote
address at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI).
Without naming names, his statement
apparently was referring to the US and the West’s efforts to prop up India
against China.
The foreign minister’s statement came
against the backdrop of reports that Pakistan’s worsening economic problems may
push the country to completely align with China. There have been concerns that
the delay behind the IMF bailout may have to do with geopolitics.
But Bilawal’s speech suggested that
Pakistan wanted to avoid such a situation where it had to pick sides.
“In our view, the main driver for
international relations should be cooperation, not confrontation. There is
everything to be gained from the economic inter-dependence and peaceful
coexistence; and everything to lose from a mindless drift into confrontation
and conflict. We hope prudence will prevail and the world would step back from
the precipice,” he hoped.
Nevertheless, he underlined the
importance of Pakistan’s close ties with China. “The all-weather strategic
cooperative partnership between Pakistan and China has been enduring and
mutually-beneficial over several decades. China remains a steadfast and
reliable partner, and our bilateral ties continue to strengthen across myriad
fields.”
He said Pakistan was fully committed to
ensuring the success of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which had
a transformational effect as it completes its first decade this year. CPEC’s
extension to Afghanistan and further towards the West would help significantly
advance our agenda of connectivity and economic integration.
While committing to strong ties with
China, the foreign minister said there had been a positive momentum in the
Pak-US relationship. “The new government took over when the momentum of
bilateral ties had stalled. Proactive outreach resulted in high-level visits
from both sides. We are confident that de-hyphenation of relations would further
contribute to strengthening of our bilateral relations.”
With Russia, he said Pakistan continued
to build a relationship based on trust, understanding and close cooperation on
regional and international issues of common concern. There is so much potential
to be realized across multiple sectors.
“As a friend of both Russia and Ukraine,
we hope that there will be move towards peaceful resolution of the ongoing
conflict through dialogue and diplomacy.”
He said as Pakistan stressed throughout,
there had to be an adherence to the time-honoured principles of inter-state
relations and the UN Charter – including respect for sovereignty and
territorial integrity. Europe had forsaken war; we earnestly hope the current
drift would be reversed and a beginning would be made towards addressing mutual
concerns and building sustainable peace in Europe again.
He said the relationship with India was
currently marked by an atmosphere of mistrust, primarily due to India's illegal
and unilateral actions of 5 August 2019.
Pakistan is committed to having
cooperative and good-neighbourly relations with India, on the basis of mutual
respect and sovereign equalities,” he said.
To move forward, India will have to
address the obstacles that hinder peaceful coexistence, reverse its illegal
measures in IIOJK, and create an enabling environment for meaningful engagement
and result-oriented dialogue, according to the foreign minister.
He said Pakistan remained committed to a
peaceful resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the UN
Security Council resolution and the wishes of the Kashmiri people.
“If this dispute is resolved in a just
and fair manner, not only durable peace will be established in South Asia but
also the peace dividends would contribute to the well-being and prosperity of
the 1/5 (one fifth) of humanity residing in our region,” he said.
“I had the opportunity to visit GOA this
year to participate in the SCO-CFM. The SCO Heads of State (HOS) meeting is
going to be held soon in India. As Pakistan was considering mode of Prime
Minister’s participation in the SCO summit, India announced to hold the summit
in virtual format. Pakistan is committed to engagement through multilateral
organizations including SCO, UN and other multilateral organizations.”
In light of the recent political
developments in Afghanistan, he said the international community must maintain
a pragmatic approach and constructive engagement.
“Abandoning Afghanistan or its 40
million people during this critical phase could lead to unimaginable
consequences. The international community must continue to provide support and
assistance to avert any potential humanitarian disaster and help build a
sustainable economy for the long-term development of Afghanistan.”
“Simultaneously, Pakistan hopes that the
Taliban authorities would be responsive to the expectations of the
international community. The Afghan Interim Government must ensure inclusivity,
respect for human rights of all Afghans, and effective counter-terrorism
action.”
Source: tribune.com.pk
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2422074/bilawal-warns-against-forging-military-alliances
--------
South Asia
Pakistan to Relocate TTP Members to
Western Afghanistan: Sources
June 17, 2023
The Pakistani government will bear the
financial costs of relocating TTP members to the western parts of Afghanistan,
the source said.
“The Pakistani government and Taliban
administration have reached an agreement, however, practical steps have been
initiated so far,” the Pakistani senior security official said.
While speaking at a press conference on
Thursday, Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra
Baloch refrained from talking about the topic. She said, “Speaking about such
critical topics to the media is not suitable for us.”
Meanwhile, reliable sources in the
Taliban government have confirmed that the group has reached an agreement with
Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) to relocate TTP to northern
Afghanistan.
According to the source, the Afghan
Taliban will provide land to TTP members in northern Afghanistan and Pakistan
will provide them with financial support for resettlement and agricultural
tools.
Relocating TTP members to northern
Afghanistan prompted widespread criticism within Afghanistan and beyond.
Opposition groups including the National Resistance Front (NRF) described the
move as extremely dangerous and the basis for the partition of Afghanistan.
Source: khaama.com
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.khaama.com/pakistan-to-relocate-ttp-members-to-western-afghanistan-sources/
--------
Acting Head of Central Bank Meets with
Chinese Ambassador
June 16, 2023
Both sides discussed several significant
issues, including banking transactions and trading in the framework of bilateral
economic cooperation, according to a statement.
“During this meeting, the importance of
bilateral economic cooperation was mentioned, and the economic cooperation
between both countries was emphasized,” the statement read.
“Da Afghanistan Bank, as the country’s
central bank, is committed to having better banking relations with all
countries of the world, especially financial and banking institutions, and to
develop these relations in the light of international laws and regulations,”
the statement said.
Source: khaama.com
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.khaama.com/acting-head-of-central-bank-meets-with-chinese-ambassador/
--------
Kabulov's Remarks About Afghan
Ambassador at Russian Embassy
16-06-23
In an interview with Russian media
outlet RTVI, Kabulov also noted that the current government in Afghanistan is
not inclusive.
"Officially, the officials of the
current Afghan government are not recognized, which means that until they are,
no ambassador can be present at the Afghan embassy in Russia, and this is the
issue that Vladimir Putin, the Russian President, and Foreign Minister Sergey
Lavrov have repeatedly addressed. Such action can be taken when the Taliban
fulfill their initial pledge to establish an inclusive government made up of
ethnic and political representatives,” Kabulov noted.
ZamirKabulov said the security situation
in Afghanistan has not changed and urged Russian citizens to avoid travel to
Afghanistan during the interview.
"The security situation in
Afghanistan is serious, therefore we advise our citizens to avoid traveling
there. Numerous terrorist organizations are fighting against the ruling system
in Afghanistan, and whether or not our countrymen go there, they may run into
trouble,” the Russian special envoy for Afghanistan, further stated.
In the meantime, the Islamic Emirate, in
response to Kabulov’s statements, said that security has been ensured in
Afghanistan and foreign citizens should not worry about it.
The Islamic Emirate's spokesperson,
Zabihullah Mujahid, emphasized that the establishment of an inclusive
government is an Afghan domestic issue and urged other nations not to interfere
in it.
"We provide assurance on security
to all foreign nationals working here in the fields of diplomacy and business.
The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has ensured their security well,” Mujhaid
said.
The Russian president's envoy for
Afghanistan also said in this interview that the current Afghan government is
interested in having Russian experts repair artillery and tanks there, but the
Islamic Emirate's spokesperson disputed his claims.
Source: tolonews.com
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-183805
--------
Daesh in Afghanistan Gets 'External
Support': Moscow
17-06-23
Maria Zakharova, the spokesperson of the
Russian foreign ministry, also expressed concerns about the possible
destabilization of the Central Asian countries by Daesh.
"In this, ISIL is clearly
encouraged by external forces; ISIL members themselves have confirmed that the
terrorist group receives funds from foreign intelligence agencies and there are
foreign terrorists among its fighters," said Zakharova, as quoted by TASS-
a Russian news agency.
"Daesh is not a threat to powerful
member countries such as America, Russia and NATO member China, and neighboring
countries may be a threat if they take power. According to Russian authorities,
it is actually a media war against America...," said Asadullah Nadem,"
a military intelligence.
The Islamic Emirate responded to the
statement of the Russian Foreign Ministry, saying that Daesh is being destroyed
in Afghanistan, and that this group will not pose any threat to other countries
from Afghanistan.
“Daesh may be used by some of the
destructive parties and those who are still plotting against Afghanistan. We
know it because sometimes the Daesh fighters recently arrested in Afghanistan
or who were eliminated, were foreigners and nationals of nearby countries,”
Mujahid said.
Earlier, the Islamic Emirate said that
as a result of the fight against Daesh, more than 100 centers of this group
have been destroyed.
Source: tolonews.com
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-183804
--------
Southeast Asia
Anwar: Govt allocates RM8.9 mln to
assist Islamic education institutions in Kedah
17-06- 2023
JITRA: The government has allocated
RM8.9 million to help Islamic education institutions in Kedah to further
improve the level and quality of education in the state, said Prime Minister
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
He said of the amount, RM6.4 million was
allocated to repair and upgrade educational facilities for Islamic educational
institutions including Al-Quran and Fardu Ain (KAFA) schools in the state.
“For the state of Kedah alone, the Unity
Government has approved a total of RM604,180 to 36 Islamic educational
institutions for courses and teacher training as well as educational equipment
and facilities such as desks, chairs, cupboards, projectors, whiteboards, book
cabinets and so on.
“The Unity Government will also
contribute a total of RM1.985 million to 28 pondok, tahfiz, maahad and
religious schools registered in the state of Kedah in our efforts to further
enrich Islamic-based education in the state,“ he said when speaking at the
Diamond Jubilee Celebration of SekolahMenengah Agama (SMA) Nahdhah Hasanah
Melele, Kodiang near here today.
He said apart from that, the government
also agreed to approve another contribution of RM2.94 million to 588 mosques in
12 districts in Kedah which are registered under the Kedah Islamic Religious
Affairs Department (JHEAIK).
He said the donation was for the
beautification of the mosque in conjunction with the coming Hari Raya Aidiladha
celebration, with each mosque receiving a donation of RM5,000.
In the meantime, the Prime Minister also
announced an allocation of another RM1.2 million to SMA Nahdhah Hasanah Melele
for the purpose of renovating the school.
Anwar said under the Ministry of
Education, a total of RM821 million had been allocated for the operation and
development of Islamic education, especially for the 228 government-aided
religious schools (SABK) registered under the ministry nationwide.
He said, despite facing financial constraints,
mounting debts and deficit spending, the government will not turn its back on
education, health and the development of mosques and Islamic programmes.
Also present at the ceremony were
Education Minister FadhlinaSidek, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department
(Religious Affairs) Datuk Dr MohdNa’im Mokhtar and SMA Nahdhah Hasanah
principal Mohd Jamil Sadaqi Tajuddin.-Bernama
Source: thesundaily.my
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https://www.thesundaily.my/local/anwar-govt-allocates-rm89-mln-to-assist-islamic-education-institutions-in-kedah-NA11118050
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Hajj: Siblings visit father’s grave in
Makkah after seven years
17-06- 2023
MAKKAH: After almost seven years, two
sisters finally had the opportunity to visit the Syaraek cemetery here, where
their beloved father, SajariSawi, was buried after he died as he was performing
the dawn prayer, when he was serving as a LembagaTabung Haji (TH) staff member
during the 2016 hajj season.
Nurul SyazwaniSajari, 32, and her
sister, Nurul Farhanah, 29, who are currently in the Holy Land to perform the
hajj pilgrimage, were brought by TH officers to the cemetery, located about 15
kilometres from their accommodation in AbrajJanadriyah, here.
As both entered the cemetery area with
rows of unmarked graves, the sisters couldn’t hold back their tears, praying
for their deceased father.
Nurul Syazwani said that she started to
feel emotional seeing TH staff wearing uniforms similar to her late father’s,
when she arrived at the Prince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz International Airport, on
May 30.
“We had plans to visit my father’s grave
with my mother. Unfortunately, my mother fell ill and died two years after my
father’s passing, due to cancer,” she said when met by reporters here.
The late Sajari, a TH staff member
during the 2016 hajj season, died in a tent in Mina, Saudi Arabia, at about
6.10 am local time on Sept 14, due to a heart attack. He was 56.
Sajari, who had served with TH since
1985, and served as assistant manager of Zone 1 (Madinah) at that time, was
buried at the cemetery after the Zohor prayer on the same day.
Recalling their last memories before her
late father departed for the Holy Land, Nurul Syazwani said that her father
asked her to pay attention to her daily prayers and look after her younger
siblings, Nurul Farhanah and Muhammad Syamil, 28.
She added that her father was very happy
to be able to work for the hajj season that year compared with previous years,
He also shared his closely-guarded recipe of Nasi Arab, which he had not shared
with family members before, despite being asked a few times.
Meanwhile, TH administrative unit staff
member, Rashid Desa, 60, described the late Sajari as a good leader and friend.
“He was always soft-spoken, never rude
and he disliked talking about other people,” he said.-Bernama
Source: thesundaily.my
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https://www.thesundaily.my/local/hajj-siblings-visit-father-s-grave-in-makkah-after-seven-years-JA11118076
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Malaysian pilgrims grateful for smooth
Makkah Route journey, Saudi hospitality
June 16, 2023
KUALA LAMPUR: Malaysian pilgrims said on
Friday they are enjoying smooth travel under the Makkah Route initiative and
are moved by Saudi hospitality as they reach the Kingdom to perform Hajj.
Malaysia is among seven Muslim-majority
countries — including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Morocco, Turkiye and
Cote d’Ivoire — where Saudi Arabia opened its Makkah Route initiative.
The program, launched in 2019, is
dedicated to Hajj pilgrims, allowing them to fulfill all visa, customs and
health requirements at their airport of origin, saving long hours of waiting.
Upon arrival, pilgrims can enter the Kingdom having already gone through visa
and customs processes back home.
This year, 31,600 Malaysians are
participating in the annual pilgrimage that is one of the five pillars of
Islam.
Those departing from Kuala Lumpur
International Airport are taken care of by Saudi immigration officials working
round the clock to facilitate their journey under Makkah Route.
“It is a successful program in
facilitating the movement of pilgrims through immigration and customs at KLIA
and the airports in Madinah and Jeddah,” Mohammed NaserJaffar, director of
media operations for Tabung Hajji — Malaysia’s Hajj board — told Arab News, as
he expressed his gratitude to the Saudi government for providing the special
service “for the comfort of Malaysian Hajj pilgrims.”
Among those who enjoyed the service was
Nuryutta Yahya, who reached the Kingdom accompanied by her father.
“The process of the Makkah Route was
very smooth for me and my father,” she told Arab News over the phone from Saudi
Arabia.
“I am happy and grateful to be here in
Makkah. I am still young, and it is a blessing for me.”
Like many other Malaysians, Yahya was
also moved by Saudi hospitality.
“The Saudis here are very friendly,” she
said. “Every time we walked by, they would greet us Malaysians!”
Khawlah Al-AzwarMohdLukmanuddin, another
female pilgrim from Yahya’s group, was full of praise for her hosts’
willingness to assist whenever help is needed.
“If we go to the mosque and seek help,
they willingly assist us, even though many of us here do not know how to speak
Arabic,” she said.
“They go out of their way to help.”
Source: arabnews.com
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2322816/world
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Shahidan withdraws from contest for DPMM
presidency
17-06- 2023
KUALA LUMPUR: Arau MP Datuk Seri
ShahidanKassim (pix) has decided to pull out of the race for the the president
post at Malay Chamber of Commerce Malaysia’s (DPMM) election scheduled for
today.
The former MenteriBesar of Perlis said
the decision was made to maintain unity among the members of the association.
“I pray that friends who will hold
office will do their best for the future of DPMM,“ he told reporters before the
association’s general assembly here. –Bernama
Source: thesundaily.my
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https://www.thesundaily.my/local/shahidan-withdraws-from-contest-for-dpmm-presidency-AA11117465
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URL:
https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/hindu-outfit-dharma-sena-muslim/d/130017